In its report dedicated to the achievements of the year 2024, the National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) presents a nuanced assessment, illustrating both significant progress in the field of mining and promising developments concerning the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project. However, this dynamic is accompanied by a notable decline in natural gas exploration activity and hydrocarbon marketing.
The report presented to the House of Representatives highlighted several advances aimed at revitalizing the energy sector, despite the numerous challenges that Morocco has faced in recent years. Details.
Mining
By 2025, 45 exploration projects for precious, strategic and base metals will be launched, also including rocks, industrial minerals and energy materials.
The mining research program includes 23 projects initiated by the Office and 21 in partnership, with the objective of continuing exploration and development through internal resources and collaborations, while adopting a sustainable approach. Given Morocco’s commitment to renewable energy, these initiatives will seek to discover new mining resources such as rare elements, copper, cobalt, lithium, and more.
In addition, 9 projects will be dedicated to strategic and base metals, 6 to precious metals, and various for industrial minerals, geothermal and natural hydrogen explorations. In 2024, the integrated Little Atlas project began, focusing on the collection and analysis of geoscientific data to identify new exploration objectives.
In addition, 14 partnership agreements were concluded until the end of September 2024, including one with the Indian group Samta for the exploration of copper and silver in Taadant and Tizoula, and others with the Mohammed VI University Polytechnique (UM6P) to valorize silica and natural hydrogen.
Gas exploration
The exploration of natural gas and the marketing of hydrocarbons in Morocco were marked by a significant decline during the first nine months of 2024. In fact, natural gas sales fell 9% compared to the previous year. At the same time, the turnover generated by the marketing of hydrocarbons and the provision of services is forecast at 125.1 million dirhams by the end of December 2024, which represents a decrease of 11% compared to 140.1 million of 2023 dirhams.
Concerning the exploration basins, gas production in the Gharb basin recorded a drop of 26% compared to 2023, while sales decreased by 25% due to the cessation of supplies to several customers of the region. In the Essaouira basin, gas production fell by 6%, and gas sales to OCP fell by 4%.
Condensates intended for OCP also suffered a decline, showing a drop of 14% during the same period. Regarding projections, Morocco is expected to end the year with around 25 million cubic meters of natural gas and 1,900 tonnes of condensate exported.
In terms of exploration efforts, the 2024 program includes 8 projects, including 5 relating to traditional hydrocarbons (three at sea and two on land), one project for unconventional hydrocarbons, and two projects for reprocessing seismic data and evaluation of the extension of the Atlantic continental shelf.
This oil research program made it possible, until the end of September, to carry out a geological and geochemical evaluation of the Zag basin to determine the shale gas potential, with the completion of three exploratory drillings and a study on the distribution of reservoirs in the marine segments from Tangier to Lagouira, using the Office’s internal resources for a total of 1,145 meters of drilling.
In in terms of partners, the report highlights that this year, Morocco has 19 ongoing projects (10 land projects and 9 maritime projects), focused on the monitoring of four drillings (three land and one maritime), as well as geological and geophysics of oil potential, while reprocessing seismic data.
Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline
In 2025, it is planned to create the High Authority for the Morocco-Nigeria gas pipeline project and to begin the ratification of the International Governmental Agreement (IGA), which aims to promote cooperation between several nations on issues of common interest .
The Office notably indicated in its report to anticipate the launch, next year, of the project company responsible for construction, operation and maintenance. It also plans to sign specific agreements regarding gas transportation for the first phase of the project with Nigeria, Senegal and Mauritania.
In addition, the completion of prospecting, environmental and social assessment studies, as well as the finalization of the financial structure of the project in collaboration with partners, are expected for next year, as well as the launch of calls for tender. tenders for the construction of the first phases of the gas pipeline.
Notable progress has also been made in prospecting and environmental assessment studies, particularly for the northern section linking Senegal to Morocco. Regarding the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, its operation, resumed since October 31, 2021, continues with the implementation of the reverse flow for the supply of natural gas from Spain.
As for achievements in 2024, Morocco has met 100% of its natural gas needs for the power plants of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) thanks to the connection of the Ain Bni Mathar power plant. to the national electricity grid, thereby reducing gas consumption for electricity production.
In addition, work was completed on the maritime section of the gas pipeline linking Tangier to Tarifa, and a contract was signed in October for the supply of natural gas between the Office and ONEE.
According to ONHYM, the year 2025 promises to be that of the finalization of the studies, the implementation of modifications for the compression station in Tangier in reverse flow mode, and the connection of the unit’s power plants and from Tahadarte 2 to the natural gas production fields.
