A South African and a Swedish oil company have signed a cooperation agreement to search and drill for oil jointly in waters near the southwestern city of Tzinit, Moroccan officials said here Friday.
The agreement, signed with Morocco's National Office for Oil Research and Exploitation (ONAREP), authorizes South Africa's Energy Africa Limited and Sweden's Taurus to search and drill for oil in 6,000 square kilometers (3,720 square miles) of territorial waters near Tzinit.
Preliminary studies in the zone conducted by Taurus had discovered an oil "potential", ONAREP said.
The Moroccan government decided to increase oil prospecting and drilling both on-shore and off-shore after the US oil company Lone Star Energy discovered oil in eastern Morocco in August 2000.—AFP.
©--Agence France Presse 2001.
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
