• Morocco’s ONHYM signed an offshore exploration agreement with Murphy Oil
• The Gharb Deep Offshore area covers 10 permits and nearly 17,000 km²
• The deal follows a non-commercial offshore result in Côte d’Ivoire

Morocco’s National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM) and Murphy Morocco Oil Co., Ltd. signed an energy agreement on Jan. 22, covering an offshore area of interest along the country’s Atlantic coast.

The agreement was signed by Amina Benkhadra, chief executive of ONHYM, and Christopher C. Olson, vice president of Murphy Oil Corporation Ltd. The area, known as Gharb Deep Offshore, includes 10 exploration permits spanning a total surface area of 16,989.9 km².

Murphy Morocco Oil Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Murphy Oil Corporation, an independent U.S. oil and gas group active in hydrocarbon exploration and production. The company also operates in Côte d’Ivoire, where its offshore exploration campaign in block CI-502 encountered hydrocarbons in non-commercial volumes.

ONHYM said the agreement strengthens cooperation with international oil operators and highlights continued interest in Morocco’s offshore hydrocarbon potential.

The move fits into ONHYM’s broader strategy to promote Morocco’s sedimentary basins, launched in the mid-2010s. As part of this approach, the agency has made reprocessed seismic data available to operators to attract investment in Atlantic offshore areas, notably Tarfaya, Agadir, and Gharb, which are considered underexplored by international standards.

Against a backdrop of several unsuccessful exploration campaigns by different operators, ONHYM said last year that it had commissioned an expert review. The mission aims to assess past exploration projects, identify areas with higher potential, and strengthen the tools available to geoscience teams to better guide future drilling programs.

Abdel-Latif Boureima