Will “Morocco’s vast riches of natural gas reserves” change the rules of the game in the region?

The first project will supply around 100 million cubic meters of LNG per year to industrial customers. With the goal of starting manufacturing and sales in the first quarter of 2024,

The CEO of the British “Sound Energy” company (in charge of oil and gas exploration in Morocco), Graham Lyon, said, in an interview with the “Petroleum Economist” website, which specializes in the energy economy, that ” Morocco has a large revolution in natural gas reserves , and that this will help it achieve self-sufficiency, and even tends to export gas to global markets.

In the following year, Graham Lyon underlined that “two important projects are under discussion and implementation, one pertaining to the delivery of LNG to key industrial markets, and the other involving the creation of a pipeline for the supply of gas to power markets.”

“The first project will provide industrial markets with around 100 million cubic meters of liquefied gas annually; it aims to begin production and sales in the first quarter of 2024. Morocco possesses record-setting natural gas reserves of more than 20 trillion cubic feet. Although Morocco currently uses coal to generate power, it continues to advance renewable energy transformation initiatives that lower carbon emissions. In order to fulfill the goals of the Maghreb and the nation’s desire to increase trade and markets abroad, the Moroccan field of Tendrara will be crucial.”

Graham pointed out that Morocco had previously lost Algerian natural gas flows in November 2021; it was the main source of imported gas following the onset of a diplomatic crisis between them. Graham characterized the British giant’s discoveries in Morocco as ushering in a real change in the playing field, positioning the Kingdom at the forefront and producing domestic wealth and even surplus exports.

A legally binding agreement for the sale of natural gas from the Tandarra concession for a ten-year period was previously signed between Sound Energy and the National Water and Electricity Office (ONEE). Through the Maghreb-European tube, the business agreed to provide the office with 350 million cubic meters of gas annually.

One of the countries with the lowest rates of gas consumption is Morocco, which uses roughly 1 billion cubic meters of gas yearly. The two thermal power plants in Ain Beni Mathar and Tahaddart will be able to function in part because to the extraction of degradation gas. Future liquefied gas imports may be received and stored at the port of Nador in the western Mediterranean to be converted back to gas before being delivered to industrial areas and power facilities.