Exploration Block in Morocco

East West Petroleum has acquired an interest in a large prospectiveexploration block onshore Morocco. The Petroleum Agreement was signed ..portfolio in Morocco. MPE holds two offshore exploration licences (subdivided into 4blocks) and two onshore exploration licences (subdivided into 10 blocks). ...Morocco Blocks, Concessions, Licences, Permits, Major Oilfields and Prospects.Exploration Permits, Exploration Zones, Reconnaissance Contracts, Petroleum ...

Acquisition of Direct Bulgaria and Direct Morocco




TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd. is pleased to announce that on February 18, 2011, its wholly owned subsidiaries, TransAtlantic Worldwide, Ltd. and TransAtlantic Petroleum Cyprus Limited, acquired 100% of the ownership interests of Direct Petroleum Bulgaria EOOD, Direct Petroleum Morocco, Inc. and Anschutz Morocco Corporation under the terms of the previously announced purchase agreement with Direct Petroleum Exploration, Inc. (Direct). The Company issued 8,924,478 of its common shares to Direct and paid $2.0 million in cash consideration at closing in addition to $492,000 in cash adjustments.



Acquisition of New Exploration Block in Morocco

East West Petroleum Corp. is pleased to announce the Company has acquired an interest in a large prospective exploration block onshore Morocco. The Petroleum Agreement was signed with the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (“ONHYM”) in Rabat, the country’s capital city.

The 1997 sq. km. (approx. 500,000 acres) Doukkala Block is situated along the Atlantic coast approximately 125 km. southwest from the city of Casablanca. Under the Petroleum Agreement, East West will partner with ONHYM to explore for oil and gas over an 8 year period. The Company will retain a 75% participation interest in the block and operatorship, with ONHYM retaining a 25% participation interest.

The Company will carry out regional geological studies, seismic acquisition and reprocessing, followed by exploratory drilling. Both conventional and unconventional oil plays have been identified on the acreage. Two wells previously drilled on the Block encountered numerous hydrocarbon shows in the Devonian shale section. The Doukkala Block represents East West’s first operated program. The Company is reviewing other opportunities in the country.

Mr. Greg Renwick, President and CEO, commented “the Doukkala Block award represents the Company’s first entry into Morocco and we look forward to working with our new partner ONHYM in pursuing both conventional and unconventional resource plays. ONHYM is a knowledgeable partner which brings many years of experience working in this area”

Mr. Wak Kani, Advisory Board Member of Company commented “Previous drilling on the Doukkala Block demonstrates the presence of hydrocarbon shows in a thick Devonian shale section over a depth range of 1500 to 3000 meters. The Devonian section in Doukkala is of similar age and geology to the emerging unconventional Marcellus shale play in the eastern US.”

Morocco has been attracting more industry attention recently due to the presence of a number of basins which demonstrate the potential to contain unconventional shale resource plays. Recently, companies such as Anadarko and EOG have taken positions in the country. The fiscal terms offered by the Government of Morocco rank amongst the best in the world.

San Leon is pleased to announce that it has completed its work obligations and as a result of the positive results received from this work the Company has successfully negotiated with ONHYM the conversion of the Reconnaissance Licence into a full Exploration Licence which was signed on the 18th of June in Rabat and was approved for release by ONHYM on the 17th July.

San Leon Energy's high resolution aero magnetic survey, which was integrated with surface and subsurface data, indicated some structures; including a 60 km long anticline with the potential for hydrocarbon reserves. The Agreement is valid for up to 8 years and covers a work programme, which includes seismic acquisition and geological studies within the first thirty months.

San Leon operates the Zag Exploration License with a 37.5% stake, partner Island Oil and Gas Plc has a 15% interest, and ONHYM has 25%. The other partner is Long reach Oil and Gas with 22.5%. ONHYM’s 25% interest is free carried until a discovery is made and the development phase is agreed to have commenced.
San Leon Energy Plc is very pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with ONHYM to employ proprietary In-Situ Vapour Extraction (“IVE”) technology over the 6,000 km2 (1,482,626 acres) Tarfaya Oil Shale project. The agreement was signed with Mrs Amina Benkhadra, General Director of ONHYM and Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines, Water, and Environment.

San Leon has been working with ONHYM for two years to explore the potential of the available and massive in-place oil shale opportunities. The company has therefore signed a three year Memorandum of Understanding with the Moroccan authorities which grants San Leon exclusivity to convert the area into a License. San Leon estimates reserves of billions of barrels of recoverable oil from the Tarfaya oil shale over the 6,000 km2 area.

To exploit this [potentially vast resource, San Leon has acquired an in-situ oil extraction technology through an agreement with the U.S. company Mountain West Energy (MWE). This technology is exclusive to San Leon in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The successful testing of this technology enabled San Leon to successfully apply for the rights to test the large oil shale concession in Morocco.

Laboratory and site testing in the U.S. has been completed and Moroccan site testing will begin later this year. The feasibility study, which includes a work programme, has been presented and agreed in Morocco by ONHYM.

TheTarfaya oil shale has successfully produced 62 litres per tonne in Mountain West Energy’s Utah lab. This is similar to the yield reported by Shell when they were testing in the Tarfaya area from 1981 until 1986. Shell drilled 55 shallow boreholes, all of which were petrophysically logged, in 1982, encountering the Cretaceous and organic rich Tarfaya oil shale within the San Leon area. Shell established an open pit mine and heated the oil shale in a retort for oil production. They left the area in 1986 after oil prices had plunged to $10 per barrel.

IVE is an in-situ oil shale extraction technology that forces heated gas through a central injector well and into a high oil yielding and fractured oil shale. The oil is then produced from several extraction wells, equidistant from the central injection well. IVE was tested successfully in the Naval Petroleum Reserve #3 at the Tea Pot Dome Field in Wyoming, with assistance from the US government, in order to increase production from the existing heavy oil reserves The in-situ process of oil extraction is cleaner environmentally than the alternative technology, open pit mining, which is invasive. San Leon’s IVE process “cooks” the oil shale in the ground (or in-situ) and the gases utilized in the process are recycled within a closed system.

San Leon conducted a detailed test study from August 2008 until January 2009 and produced an extensive report outlining the IVE technology and the prospectivity of the Tarfaya oil shale. On the basis of the Tarfaya Work Study, ONHYM and The Group signed the Tarfaya Oil Shale MOU, which gives San Leon 3 years to test the IVE process.

The first test project is now in the planning stage and The Group expects this to be completed in the first half of 2010. The test site will be selected in a location approximately 200m above the high oil yielding zone within the Tarfaya oil shale. It could take at least a year to mobilize all the essential equipment for San Leon’s first test site.In a similar transaction, Petrobras has recently signed an MOU with ONHYM for the Tarfaya oil shale, neighbouring the San Leon acreage. Petrobras also has the Timhadit oil shale MOU, which lies in the northern part of Morocco.

Phil Thompson, CEO of San Leon commented:
“This is a monumental achievement for our company to add the potential to access huge recoverable oil reserves from the Tarfaya shale through our oil shale technology. We are delighted with this accomplishment as it represents a major step in the development of San Leon. We are particularly pleased to note the strong support given by ONHYM in our negotiations and trials process and look forward to working together to develop the burgeoning Moroccan oil and gas environment.

”Mrs Amina Benkhadra, General Director of ONHYM and Moroccan Minister of Energy, Mines, Water, and Environment commented:
“We are delighted that San Leon has decided to join with international super majors in exploring the potential of our oil shale. Morocco remains committed to developing its oil and gas industry to the highest of international standards and will continue to provide positive support to foreign direct investment, be it through the provision of technical data, or working in co-operation to upgrade the logistical systems in country to allow efficient development”



Caithness Awarded New Acreage of Taounate, Morocco

Caithness Petroleum Limited the privately owned British independent petroleum exploration and production company with assets in onshore Morocco is pleased to announce that the Company’s Moroccan subsidiary, Cabre Maroc Limited, (“Cabre Maroc”) has been awarded a one year reconnaissance licence over the Taounate area in Morocco.

This lies immediately to the northeast of the Company’s Fes exploration permit and is believed to comprise an extension of the geological plays in the Fes block. The Taounate block covers an area of approximately 4,660 km2 and is largely unexplored.

Cabre Maroc is Operator and holds a 75% interest in the licence. The remaining 25% is held by ONHYM, the Moroccan state oil company. When the licence expires, Caithness and ONHYM will have the right to apply for an eight-year exploration permit over the area. Cabre Maroc has arranged to acquire an airborne gravity / gradiometry survey, to identify and map structures in the Taounate licence area.