Longreach Oil and Gas, an independent oil and gas company focused on Morocco, has signed a contract with Saipem SpA for the provision of a drilling rig to drill two wells on its Sidi Moktar Exploration Licence Area onshore Morocco.
The contract has the provision for Longreach to drill two additional optional wells.
The rig will be mobilised from Hassi Messaoud in Algeria with a planned rig-up date, on location in Sidi Moktar, of mid October 2013. Drilling will commence with the Koba 1 well.
The Koba prospect is a 4-way dip closure, targeting Lower Jurassic and Triassic sandstones. Koba has been further de-risked by the recently acquired seismic data and further extensive geological field studies, as conducted by the Longreach technical team. The prospect was initially evidenced by Longreach through careful reprocessing of existing data, together with extensive geological and geophysical studies.
The contracted rig is the Saipem Drillmec Mas 7000, a 2,000HP unit built in 2007. Saipem and the rig have been contracted after a rigorous tender process conducted by Longreach using best international practices to ensure the timely delivery of a rig matching the CompanyÂ’s requirements on HSE, technical performance and cost. Longreach has a 50% working interest and is Operator of the Sidi Moktar licences.
“We are delighted to have entered into a contract with Saipem for this world-class drilling unit, the Saipem Drillmec Mas 7000, to drill LongreachÂ’s well programme in Sidi Moktar. Saipem and the crew have extensive regional experience drilling similar formations and we have assembled a drilling operations crew which has working experience with this rig. We expect to spud the first well on Koba in October,” said Andrew Benitz, CEO of Longreach.
“Bringing the Saipem rig and other world-class service and equipment providers into Morocco is a significant achievement for Longreach and a new exploration milestone for the Kingdom of Morocco. Drilling Koba will enable Longreach to test the new play concepts evidenced by LongreachÂ’s extensive geophysical, geological and petrophysical studies conducted over the previous several years in the Essaouira Basin,” Benitz added.Â
