Chariot agrees terms for Moroccan gas exports
London-listed Chariot and its Moroccan state-owned partner ONHYM have agreed on key principles for long-term gas sales from the Anchois discovery off Morocco's coast.
Up to 0.6bn m3 of gas will be sold on a take-or-pay basis over 10 years. Gas will be supplied via the Magrheb-Europe gas pipeline to domestic power plants.
"With the preliminary key principles now agreed, the parties will continue discussions regarding Anchois with a view of concluding the binding gas sales agreement (GSA)," Chariot said in a statement on December 12. "Whilst there is no guarantee that these principles will be turned into a fully termed GSA, the parties are progressing with the next stage of documentation."
Anchois was found in 2009, and was initially estimated to hold in excess of 1 trillion ft3 of contingent and prospective gas resources. Chariot has a 75% interest in the Lixus licence containing the discovery, while ONHYM has 25%.
The project got a boost in January this year when the partners found even more gas at the site after drilling a second well. Its resources have since been independently assessed at 1.4 trillion ft3.
Chariot awarded a front-end engineering design contract for the project in June to a consortium comprising Schlumberger and Subsea 8.
Societe Generale is taking the lead on project financing, and ONHYM agreed a pipeline tie-in agreement earlier this year providing access to Magrheb-Europe.