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British company Predator Oil & Gas, listed on the UK stock exchange, announced on Monday that it has submitted a bid to build and operate a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Morocco. It responds to a call for tenders launched in April by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and the Environment, which expires on May 31. Predator already has an exploration license at Guercif onshore in the north of the kingdom.
In a press release, the company explains that the floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal project in Morocco has an annual requirement of 1.1 billion cubic meters (Gm3) by 2025, which will increase to 1,7 billion in 2030 and 3 billion in 2040.
Morocco currently has only a low consumption of gas, estimated at just over 1 Gm3 per year, and sources gas in Algeria as part of its Algerian gas transit agreement to Spain. However, it is increasingly turning to gas and renewables to reduce its production of coal-fired electricity, the same source said.
Predator said the floating terminal project in Morocco was «was envisaged to be a much longer-term project that does not compete with the company's short- and medium-term plans to develop Guercif».
«It is potentially a complementary addition to the company's business development strategy for Morocco to increase both materiality and the potential for future gas exports to Europe once the domestic Moroccan gas market reaches capacity», the same source added.
The company, which obtained the Guercif license in March 2019, has estimated the potential resources at the site at some 474 billion standard cubic feet of gas, with considerable upside potential. The company added that negotiations are continuing on additional collaboration agreements regarding both the LNG project in Morocco and its plans for another floating terminal in Ireland.
