Dana Petroleum said yesterday it had made a significant gas discovery at Anchois, in the Tanger-Larache licence, with its first well offshore Morocco.
The oil and gas operator, which has its headquarters in Aberdeen, said the Anchois-1 discovery well, 25 miles from the coast, encountered two intervals of high-quality, gas-bearing sands, with a combined gas column of around 295ft and about 131ft of net pay.
Dana added that preliminary estimates of reserves were around 100billion cu ft (166million barrels of oil equivalent) and Dana, together with partners Repsol (operator with 36%), Gas Natural (24%) and ONHYM (25%) had decided to suspend the well as a potential future producer.
Dana, which has 15% of the Tanger-Larache licence, said the discovery was important as the well was the first in a large under-explored area, and other prospects in the licence had been improved significantly by the results of the Anchois well.
In Egypt, Dana said it had made a small discovery on the onshore North Zeit Bay concession, in which it holds a 100% interest, but a second well on the licence had been plugged and abandoned. A further well in the onshore North Qarun concession (Dana 75%) in Egypt was dry.
Dana chief executive Tom Cross said: “Following Dana’s recent discoveries at Fulla and South-East Rinnes, the new Anchois discovery is a very important result from our first well offshore Morocco.”
Also yesterday, Dana Petroleum reported record production of around 39,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2008, up 29% on output in 2007. The company expects production this year will be between 43,000 and 47,000boepd. It added that it had seen strong growth in oil and gas reserves, with proven and probable reserves increasing to 194.1million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at the end of 2008 from 165.8million boe a year earlier. It said oil and gas reserve additions represented a reserves-replacement ratio of nearly 300% for the year.
Mr Cross said: “Dana delivered record production in 2008 and also had an excellent year with the drillbit, adding record oil and gas reserves.
The group is now producing from 31 oil and gas fields, has progressed two new field developments, due on-stream in 2009 and 2010, and is working on a number of highly attractive potential development projects.
“A total of 17 wells are planned for this year, focused on the UK, Norway, Morocco and Egypt. The company has a strong balance sheet, a valuable portfolio of growth opportunities and is well-positioned to deliver further commercial transactions.”
Dana reported yesterday pre-tax profits of £191.4million for 2008, up 34% on the year before. Revenues increased by 66%, to a record of £518million. It also said it had £158.9million in cash at the year-end, with all bank debt fully repaid.