Chariot, an Africa-focused oil and gas company, has announced the discovery of natural gas at the OBA-1 well within the Loukos Onshore licence in Morocco. 

The OBA-1 well, part of a two-well drilling campaign on the Dartois prospect, was drilled to a final measured depth of 901 metres (m).  

Preliminary interpretations from well data, including wireline logs, cuttings, and gas data, confirm the presence of reservoirs with an approximate 200m gross thickness, aligning with pre-drill targets. 

The drilling campaign also identified an approximate 70m gross interval of primary reservoirs with elevated resistivities and mud gas readings, suggesting potential gas pays, the company said.   

Chariot noted that no water-bearing reservoirs were identified, indicating a promising outlook for the site's gas resource potential. 

The company plans to conduct further analysis post-drill to prepare for well flow testing. 

These tests are crucial to determining the well’s productivity and the full extent of the gas resource.  

Following this, the well will be suspended for future rigless flow testing operations and could potentially serve as a producer well. 

Chariot technical director Duncan Wallace said: “We will now integrate the comprehensive data we have obtained from both the RZK-1 and OBA-1 wells with recently reprocessed 3D seismic data to understand the resource potential of the Dartois area, to confirm the optimal future work programme on the discovery and the impact on wider prospectivity across the Loukos licence.  

“Our two first wells have both been successful in confirming our geological model for reservoir distribution and the presence of gas which bodes well for future exploration activity. Our focus on the Loukos licence is to get any commercial discoveries to first gas as quickly as possible.” 

In April 2024, Chariot completed a farm-in transaction with Energean.  

This deal saw Energean acquire interests and the operatorship of the Lixus, where the Anchois gas development project is located, and Rissana licences, offshore Morocco..  

Post-deal, Chariot retained a 30% and 37.5% interest in these licences respectively, with ONHYM holding a 25% stake in each. 

“We now look forward to the offshore drilling campaign planned for Q3 2024, on the Anchois gas field, with our new partners Energean, where we are looking to increase the development to over 1 Tcf,” Wallace added.