Salt tectonics in the Atlantic margin of Morocco

Abstract

The offshore basins of Morocco's Atlantic margin represent the westernmost exploration frontier area in North Africa (Figure 1). Whereas the presence of an active petroleum system is very well established onshore (e.g., Essaouira Basin), only promising oil shows and one minor oil accumulation have been found to date offshore (e.g., Tarfaya Basin). However, all previous exploration effort concentrated only on the shelfal region and therefore it should not be very surprising that several blocks were licensed in the last few years covering large offshore acreage in water depths to almost 3000 m (Figure 1). As the reconnaissance licenses for these permits are in the process of being converted to exploration licenses, a shift from regional-scale 2-D seismic reflection data acquisition to prospect-scale 2-D and even 3-D is under way.