Sound Energy Gets Option to Buy Stake in Moroccan Onshore Gas Permit

Sound Energy has been granted an option to acquire a 55 percent interest and operatorship in the Meridja permit, onshore Morocco.

The Mediterranean and European focused upstream gas company has signed a binding agreement with Oil & Gas Investment Fund (OGIF) whereby OGIF has granted Sound Energy an option to acquire stake in the permit.

Meridja is adjacent to Sound Energy's existing Tendrara licence and is a highly prospective 9,000 Km2 area with the same fundamental geology as Tendrara, where Sound Energy expects to drill its first well shortly.  OGIF currently holds a 75 percent interest in a reconnaissance permit over the Meridja area, with the remaining 25 percent interest held by Morocco's Office National des Hydrocarbures des Mines (ONHYM).

As consideration for the option, Sound Energy will pay OGIF $100,000 and will conduct and fund early stage commitments under the ‘Reconnaissance Permit’ up to a maximum of $200,000. On exercise of the option Sound Energy would pay OGIF a further $150,000 and would carry OGIF and ONHYM for costs up to the end of a first Meridja exploration well.

The ‘Reconnaissance Permit’, which was recently successfully extended by OGIF, has an expiry date of 1 August 2016.