Project Profile
Value: Undisclosed
Location: Timahdit province, Morocco
Area: 36 sq. km
San Leon Energy has been awarded a block considered to hold the highest shale oil yield in Morocco. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with ONHYM to acquire exclusive rights to a 36 square kilometre block in the Timahdit oil shale deposit. The Timahdit deposit in the awarded area yielded an average of 99 litres per tonne of shale oil in the rich layers. It is also considered to have significantly less moisture content than many other international oil shale deposits.
Over a two-year period, San Leon planned to evaluate the commercial viability of a surface retorting (the process of yielding shale oil through pyrolysis and vapour condensation) project. Analysis by Enefit OutotecTechnology (EOT) confirmed that the Timahdit oil shale had commercial potential using EOT’s surface retorting process and further raw shale oil upgrading. According to EOT, the project would suit an initial retorting unit to produce 3,600 barrels per day of raw shale oil. Two additional units could be added to boost output to 11,000 bpd and would include synthetic oil upgrading and power generation facilities.
Operators:
San Leon: Operator with 100% interest
Contractors:
Enefit: Bench testing performed in the Frankfurt facility, designed to test the shale oil yield of recently-acquired oil shale samples from the Timahdit licence.