Mazagan Offshore Area

Summary Data

Location 100 km Offshore Morocco
Area 10,900 km2

Joint Venture
Pura Vida Energy (Operator)   75%
ONHYM                                         25%
Seismic 3,570 km2
Water depth 1,000 - 2,100 m
Prospective resources Net 2.4bn bbl (mean)

 

Overview


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Pura Vida Energy has a 75% interest in the Mazagan permit. Mazagan is located off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic. We have modern, high quality 3D seismic data over the block with independently certified potential resources of 2.4 billion barrels of oil (net). The Toubkal prospect alone has a potential resource range of 180 million to 1.670 billion barrels, with a mean estimate of 790 million barrels. Toubkal is an analogue of the billion barrel Jubilee field in Ghana – the largest oil discovery made in West Africa in the past decade.

 

Prospectivity


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The Essaouira Basin offshore Morocco is relatively under-explored. However, an unprecedented level of transactional activity has occurred in Morocco recently which will lead to increased exploration and drilling activity in the future. This is an extension of a broader regional trend, which has seen the industry pursue major resource discoveries in Northwest Africa. In the early 2000’s Woodside had a number of discoveries in Mauritania. This was followed by more recent major discoveries in Ghana and Sierra Leone. The common feature which led to these discoveries was having high quality 3D seismic identify potential hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs based on new play concepts. Pura Vida is applying the same technologies and concepts in the Mazagan permit which has the potential for similar large scale discoveries.

Historically, most of the drilling activity occurring in the Essaouira Basin has been onshore. Production has existed onshore since the 1950’s. Recently, the available acreage has been taken up by large independents, in particular Kosmos (NYSE:KOS) has picked up acreage surrounding Mazagan. Kosmos was the first to recognize the new play type in Ghana which led to a number of subsequent discoveries. It is Pura Vida’s view that the discoveries in the onshore and shallow water Essaouira Basin prove the petroleum system which provides substantial potential for large scale discoveries in the deep water areas.

 


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Resources

Multiple Play Types - Miocene Jubilee Analogue and Deepwater Lower Cretaceous

There are two main play types in the Mazagan permit with Lower Jurassic source rocks which are found throughout Europe and offshore Canada and have sourced oils found to occur offshore and onshore Morocco:

Miocene - Proven Stratigraphic Play Type

 
MIOCENE GROSS UNRISKED PROSPECTIVE OIL RESOURCES (mmbbl)
PROSPECTS LOW BEST HIGH MEAN
Toubkal 180 560 1,670 790
Zagora 13 35 95 47
Amachad 8 26 81 38
TOTAL - Mid Miocene PROSPECTS - - - 875
NET TO PURA VIDA'S 75% INTEREST - - - 656
Source: RISC Independent Resource Assessment – Sep 2011 (note estimates for Amtoudi and Tafraoute leads not included)
 

The Miocene reservoir play is especially attractive due to the high degree of success seen worldwide in predicting hydrocarbons for both oil and gas in these kinds of reservoirs from 3D seismic data.

This rate of success when coupled with the large scale of the prospects seen in the Mazagan permit makes for moderate risk high value targets.

Specifically, this reservoir type contains combined structural and stratigraphic traps which depend on lateral edges of the prospects being controlled by rapid transition to non-reservoir sealing rocks which limit the flow of hydrocarbons from the prospect.

Many of the prospects exhibit seismic amplitudes that conform to structure whereby at a constant depth there is a consistent rapid change in seismic response or strength.

The most likely explanation for the consistent change in seismic strength is the presence of hydrocarbons. These anomalies are known as DHI’s or Direct Hydrocarbon Indicators and a number of discoveries have been made in the region where this response has been observed on 3D seismic data.

The stratigraphic play type predicted on 3D seismic has proven successful in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Mauritania and the large Jubilee oil field discovered in 2007. The Toubkal prospect is an example of this play type.

 

Lower Cretaceous


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Technical work has focused on the recently added deeper water 2D seismic data, which integrates the reservoirs seen in deep water wells within the area.

 

A number of large scale anticlinal structural traps have been recognised resulting in new leads within the deeper and older Lower Cretaceous sediments and an upgrade in the amount of reservoir expected in existing prospects mapped on the 3D.

LOWER CRETACEOUS UNRISKED PROSPECTIVE OIL RESOURCES (mmbbl)
PROSPECTS LOW BEST HIGH MEAN
Jbel Musa 32 121 452 202
Jbel Ayachi 32 127 501 222
Jbel Lakhdar 14 56 216 97
TOTAL - Lower Cretaceous PROSPECTS - - - 521
LEADS
Jbel Tifidi 12 49 207 91
Jbel Tadrart 94 364 1,400 622
Jbel Azavza 80 306 1,175 522
Jbel Aroudane 37 143 556 247
Jbel Talmest 41 162 632 280
TOTAL - Lower Cretaceous PROSPECTS & LEADS - - - 2,283
NET TO PURA VIDA'S 75% INTEREST - - - 1,712
Source: RISC Independent Resource Assessment – April 2012
 

The Lower Cretaceous has been recognised as a major prospective play fairway in the deep water of Morocco due to the presence of reservoirs encountered by wells. The recent addition of 2D seismic has allowed Pura Vida to accurately locate equivalent section in the Mazagan permit.

The Lower Cretaceous has added a new play with significant upside to the Mazagan permit.

Forward Plans

Pura Vida’s immediate work program comprises reprocessing 3D seismic data and undertaking a drop core program looking for oil seeps in the sea bed. Pura Vida will seek to farmdown to fund a drilling program targeting several hundred million barrels of oil net to Pura Vida.