Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 2 -- Island Oil & Gas PLC said San Leon (Morocco) Ltd., the operator of the exclusive reconnaissance license in the Zag basin onshore Morocco, has been granted a 12-month extension to the license effective from Dec. 24, 2007.
Island announced Dec. 12, 2006, that it had signed a contract under which the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines granted it an exclusive reconnaissance license in the Zag basin.
The 12-month license, initially valid until December 2007, covers an area of 21,807 sq km. The work program comprises geological field studies, a geochemical study, the processing and interpretation of gravity and magnetic data, and the interpretation of satellite data.
At the time, Island described the Zag basin as an "underexplored Palaeozoic North African sedimentary basin within which no seismic data have been acquired to date."
The company said that wells drilled in the 1960s encountered gas shows in Palaeozoic sandstones, with surface oil shows also observed. It said an active petroleum system is believed to be present in the Zag basin.
Island bases its conclusion on "the early drilling history and the proven presence of a source rock equivalent to that responsible for the major Palaeozoic oil and gas fields of neighbor countries."
The joint venture partners in the license are operator San Leon (Morocco) 50%, GB Oil & Gas Ventures Ltd. 30%, and Island 20%.
Contact Eric Watkins at hippalus@yahoo.com.
