Chariot expects to begin drilling onshore in Morocco by the end of the first quarter and offshore with Energean.
The company said it had signed a rig deal with Star Valley Drilling, for the 101 rig, on its onshore Loukos licence. Chariot expects to begin its first two-well campaign around the end of the first quarter this year, it said.
It expects “imminent approval” of environmental authorisation for a 20-well plan onshore.
The first target is the Gaufrette prospect. This is up dip of an existing gas discovery, with similar seismic anomalies that the company has seen offshore.
The second prospect is likely to be Dartois. Gaufrette has a best estimate recoverable prospective resource of 26 billion cubic feet, while Dartois may have 20 bcf.
Chariot CEO Adonis Pouroulis said the year was starting with “multiple important catalysts”. Work on the Loukos licence focuses on “an overlooked onshore basin that has near term production potential with immediate access to industrial markets”.
“Importantly this asset also has a growing portfolio of follow-on opportunities which give meaningful scale and value to the project, at a time when industrial gas demand and associated gas pricing is at an unprecedented high.”
Anchois
Chariot signed up Energean to come onboard its offshore licences in Morocco in December 2023. Morocco should approve the deal shortly, triggering a $10 million payment to Chariot.
Energean will become the operator of the Lixus licence with 45% and Rissana with 37.5%.
Chariot said the two companies were working on the Anchois development plan together. This included negotiating offshore drilling and services for work this year. They are also working on front-end engineering and development (FEED) and gas commercialisation agreements, it said, with further exploration plans.
Pouroulis said drilling on Anchois would be a “key milestone in determining the possibility to scale up this development”. Chariot is “working closely and constructively with our new partners Energean in preparing all the workstreams necessary to permit a Final Investment Decision post-drilling as soon as feasible”.
Chariot also has plans to develop in the power and hydrogen businesses. It increased its stake in a South African power trading platform in December, with deregulation providing scope for new opportunities. It is working on various financing options to fund its plans in the first quarter.
Finally, it will file its green hydrogen feasibility study at Project Nour in Mauritania with the government this quarter.
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