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Moroccan Shale Shows Potential

Moroccan Shale Shows Potential
Last week, it was reported that San Leon Energy produced the first oil shale from its Timahdit license, roughly eight months after it signed an MoU with Chevron Lummus Global related to technologies needed to “produce synthetic crude oil from raw shale oil” in the area. The news comes just as investors in the country’s untapped energy sector have begun to express frustration with the progress of exploration and production.

San Leon also announced the spudding of an offshore well.

For Morocco, a domestic production future is vital to creating some level of economic independence. While sharing the North African coast with some of the continent’s largest oil and gas producers, Morocco currently imports about 95 percent of its energy needs, putting it in a precarious situation where energy prices can, and have, skyrocketed overnight. Meanwhile, for foreign firms, Morocco represents a stable, if unproven, frontier in North Africa. This reality has become especially clear over the last three years.


In the case of Libya, the country’s new government has struggled to retain control over its energy assets and export facilities under the pressure of local militias. In neighboring Algeria, a legacy of underperforming projects, institutional corruption and political uncertainty has made it difficult to pique the interest of new investors. While the country largely escaped the kind of broad political unrest experienced in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, they have encountered some spillover, including a direct attack on a BP-Statoil held gas facility in January 2013. Leaving scores dead, including foreign staff, the attack rattled both firms, forcing a reevaluation of their presence in the country. By comparison, Morocco seems quaint, even if it doesn’t provide the potential of its neighbors.