Lenders Emerge for Chariot's Anchois Project

Two banks have come forward with expressions of interest in funding Chariot Oil & Gas' Anchois gas project and related fields in the Lixus licence off Morocco, it said October 28.

One is Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and the other an unnamed multinational investment bank interested in a reserves-based loan. Chariot said the two letters "endorse our view that the Anchois development is a high value project." Reprocessing the seismic data led Chariot to announce a reserves boost in early September.

The project will cost in the region of $300-500mn, and the lenders identify Lixus as being an important strategic asset, with "strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, that has the potential to help Morocco transition to a low carbon economy, as it seeks to satisfy an anticipated doubling in domestic demand for energy over the next 20 years."

Acting CEO Adonis Pouroulis said AFC has invested over $1bn in projects ranging from upstream/midstream oil & gas, to power generation. The other party finances oil and gas projects with both global reach and profound market expertise within the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, he said. 

Chariot has had some difficulty in the present climate bringing Lixus to development and it had also considered other ways of returning value to shareholders. However the announcement appears to have prompted a 26% rise in the share price.

In the summer Chariot replaced some board members including the CEO Larry Bottomley and directors have taken pay cuts. It now hopes to secure financing and looks forward to "updating our stakeholders on further developments during the remainder of 2020."