Operations in Western Sahara


Map showing our locations in Western Sahara

The Company has two onshore licences covering approximately 80,000 sq km in the Western Sahara, a territory in northwest Africa.

The Bir Lehlou licence is located in the Tindouf Basin, an unexplored Palaeozoic basin which has similarities to the productive Palaeozoic basins in Algeria. The Hagounia Block located on the west coast of Africa is part of the unexplored Aaiun Basin, a basin which contains over 3 km of Early Cretaceous deltaic sediments and has recorded gas shows in several early wells.

The licences were ratified by the government of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in March 2006. The territory of Western Sahara is currently claimed by both the Moroccan government and pro-independence movement, known as the Polisario. The Polisario are recognised as the representation of the indigenous people of Western Sahara, the Saharawi people. The SADR is a full member of the African Union.

Until a successful resolution to the sovereignty of the territory currently governed by Morrocco is found and accepted by both parties, no exploration activity in that area will be undertaken.  Notwithstanding this political impasse, Morocco has licensed parts of the area claimed by the Sarahawi.  The operator of these contentious licences, Aim-listed San Leon, has assessed the potential for conventional hydrocarbons in the area straddling the Moroccan-Saharawi border as up to 3.5 billion barrels (Source: San Leon Aim Prospectus).