Tangiers Petroleum's (LON:TPET, ASX:TPT) Moroccan bet appears to have paid off as it revealed a 3D seismic programme had uncovered a company-making 750 million barrel potential at its Tarfaya offshore block.
The data confirms that the Trident prospect and secondary objectives at Assaka and TMA potentially contain up to 750 million barrels of recoverable oil with a geological success rate of 23%, it said.
Tangiers will retain a 25% interest in the Tarfaya block under the farm out agreement between Tangiers and Portuguese major Galp Energia last year.
Subject to approvals from the Moroccan government, Galp will spend US$41 million, including reimbursing Tangiers US$7.5 million for costs it incurred.
Galp will also fund an exploration well to target Trident and the secondary objectives in Assaka and TMA, which will be drilled before the middle of 2014.
The Tarfaya offshore block is in the same Jurassic hydrocarbon system associated with the Cap Juby discovery made in the 1960s.
The region has already garnered interest from many independent oilies including London-listed Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) and Genel Energy (LON:GENL) that have made significant acquisitions recently.
Cairn and Genel are partners in the Cap Juby oil discovery to the west of Tarfaya and the field is estimated to hold 250 million barrels. An appraisal/exploration well is planned for 2014.
Genel also has 60% of another nearby block in the region known as Sidi Moussa, where it is targeting a resource of more than 850 million barrels of oil equivalent. The first exploration well is scheduled for the first half of next year.
Executive chairman Eve Howell said today: "The growing interest shown in this area by several well-regarded companies, combined with our own assessments of the geology, highlights the substantial potential of the Tarfaya block
"The Trident prospect alone is a potential company-maker and we have already identified several other Jurassic prospects in the block."
After the statement, City broker Old Park Lane Capital, which rates the shares a 'buy' said: "Based on the published work programmes of companies located in the region, including Tangiers, we anticipate up to four high impact exploration wells targeting the Jurassic Carbonate fairway over the next 12-18 months.
"Consequently, we expect Tangiers share price to rally over the next twelve months driven by positive operational news flow."
Elsewhere, broker RFC Ambrian said it believed that the new data was likely to be viewed positively by the market and repeated its "speculative buy" on the shares.