Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Chariot Limited Investor Webcast. Your presenters today will be Adonis Pouroulis, CEO, Julian Maurice-Williams, CFO, and Duncan Wallace, Technical Director. There will be a Q&A session following the presentation, so please submit any questions you might have and we will do our best to answer them within the timeframe. I will now hand over to our speakers. Adonis, please take it away.
Yes, good afternoon. Thank you, Jimmy. Welcome everybody to this Chariot update presentation. My name is Adonis Pouroulis, and I'm the acting CEO. Today, we're gonna focus almost entirely on our recent successful appraisal and exploration drilling campaign offshore Morocco at Anchois on the Lixus concession. As Jimmy has just said, we'll have an opportunity to answer questions at the end of the presentation and if shareholders wish, we can delve into more detail in the other aspects of the business, namely the renewable side of the business and the large green hydrogen project. Just before handing over to Duncan, I'd just like to ask George if she could move to slide three, and I'd like to remind everybody just what Chariot is about.
18 months ago, we set ourselves on a new course, and we're a transitional energy business today that really is delivering value and positive change through investments in projects that are driving this energy revolution. We have two sides to the business. We have a gas side of the business underpinned by Morocco. Duncan will take you through that shortly. The other side of the business is the transitional power side of the business, and this really now is split into two parts. The first being our joint venture with Total Eren that provides renewable energy solutions to the mining industry across the African continent. Our goal here is to sign up 1 GW of projects, mainly solar and wind, and we're well on our way to executing the next few projects in the pipeline.
The second part of the power business is the large-scale green hydrogen project that we signed up in Mauritania. This is a world-class project and was recently cited in an independent publication as one of the top 10 green hydrogen projects in the world. What we're doing at the moment is we're undertaking scoping studies and pre-feasibility studies on this, and we will obviously update shareholders as and when we have more details and progress on that. We'll be happy at the end of the presentation to take more questions on the power side of the business. I'd like to now hand over to Duncan, who will take you through the exciting news in Morocco. Duncan.
Great. Thank you. Thank you, Adonis. If we move forward onto slide four, please, and this sort of sets the agenda for today's call. You know, thank you everybody for you know, dialing in today to hear the story. Really what we want to show you today and describe is split into three parts. Firstly, operational performance to give you some insight into the drilling campaign itself. How did we prepare for the campaign? What did we do during the campaign? What was achieved? Secondly, to describe, you know, the results of those operations. What information did we gather? And what data did we acquire? How did we do it? And what are we going to do with that data going forward?
Thirdly, you know, really to describe to you what we feel the successful results of the campaign means for Chariot and its forward plans in Morocco. Moving on to the next slide five. When we're talking about operations, operational performance, it's absolutely imperative that we start with the HSE performance of the campaign. You know, very pleased to report that the well was completed without any injuries, any lost time incidents, and in full compliance with the EIA in place for the project and industry best practice regarding those operations. Now, this is a really important statement, especially for a smaller company like Chariot. We absolutely have to focus on HSE results because, you know, any incident of any kind can be very damaging to us directly and also reputationally.
It's something that we take very, very seriously. In order to deliver those results, you know, it really comes down to a mixture of things. It's planning, and you can see some example documentation there on the screen. It comes down to establishing the right procedures, reinforcing those procedures through training and through drills. We were working in a remote operation in Morocco and working with a lot of contractors and subcontractors who aren't really used to the offshore industry, so it's very important that we focus our health and safety efforts and attention on that. There's an example lower left. It's not just to show the PPE, but it's also to show an area pre-drill that was recognized as an area of risk. You know, handling heavy goods, taking them from the shore base onto the supply vessels.
On the right-hand side, you can see an image of a medevac drill that was being performed in Tangier. Overall, we performed over 250 personnel transfers to the rig via boat and by helicopter, and over 80,000 man-hours were accrued on the project, which is approximately 10 man years of time. A lot of people involved and a lot of effort, and very pleased that that was done without incident. Slide six, if we move forward to that. This shows the focus on the drilling performance, and this is focused on the Anchois-2 operations. Now, performance is also critical to us to keep the project on time and on budget, and pleased to report that this was achieved, and it was an outstanding result.
Thanks not only to Chariot and Chariot's team, but also to Stena and the crew on the Stena Don rig for their excellent performance. Pre-drill, the main objective really was to get to the final depth, which was 2,512 m, as quickly as possible, and to deliver that final hole section with optimal conditions that would allow a formation evaluation or a wireline logging program to really extract the data that was important from the well. Getting to TD quickly was achieved. We did that from spud to TD in less than 15 days. That was less than half the time it took of the original Anchois-1 discovery well, that you can see in yellow on the chart.
Importantly, and unlike that original well, that final section through the key reservoirs was also drilled in a single hole size. That was thanks to the well design and the selection of the mud system, and that allowed the optimal conditions for an extensive wireline logging program. You can see as illustrated that evaluation program took approximately eight days, which was, you know, very important in the key data that we extracted from the well. You know, operational performance was excellent, and we'll show the results of that wireline logging program later on. Moving on to the next slide seven. This shows for the overall campaign really what it takes to drill a well. For us, what is key to deliver that performance and deliver the well results?
Well, it's a mixture of engineering. Over 12 months of work from an integrated subsurface and drilling team, putting together the right plans and the right trajectories. In terms of the preparation, the dry runs and the drills that we did to bring together a large number of people from multiple contractors and subcontractors together to understand the key objectives of Chariot for the operations and our execution plans. Also to manage all of those contracts. Over 50 suppliers and over 130 contractual documents were entered into for the campaign. We have to manage all of those people for what is, you know, a relatively short operation. Despite all of this planning, you know, things can happen, and you also need to show your ability to react and to be flexible.
An example of that is shown at lower left. As we were approaching our drilling campaign in sort of late November, it was announced that commercial air travel into Morocco was to be suspended. That presented a challenge to us because, you know, our plan was to bring people in by plane into Morocco and then to do personnel transfers by helicopter out to the rig. And you can see by the chart there that you're basically not only on the festive period, it's also the Omicron period as well. A lot of these travel restrictions related to the ongoing pandemic. We were able though to adjust the plans and to do that without any impact upon the schedule of the operations or on the cost of operations.
The right-hand side, the map there shows, you know, really that, to drill a well, you also have to be a logistics company. It's not just about the movement of the rig to come onto location. You also need to fly in personnel and equipment into country and to get them offshore by helicopter. We had offices in London, in Rabat, in Tangier at the shore base supporting the operations, and also had vessels coming from, the U.K. and also sailing equipment in from other locations in Europe. A very large, logistical effort. You know, I would say, a big thank you to all of the contractors and also to ONHYM, our JV partner, for really allowing, the operations to proceed under the restrictions we faced during the campaign. Moving on to slide eight.
This shows, you know, a few of the key elements and the parts that make up a drilling operation. Top left is the Stena Don rig, a photograph taken with the rig on location at Anchois-2. That rig has to be supported by a large amount of logistics. Transferring personnel was done by helicopter and also done by a personnel transfer vessel that was required due to the changing logistics program that we faced for the campaign. You can see there a Frog personnel transfer basket. It's that yellow basket at the end of the crane you can see, which is moving people from that large personnel transfer vessel onto the rig. Not only people, we also have to transfer equipment.
We do that taking equipment from the onshore storage facilities via the supply vessels onto the rig. You can see the logistics base and the two platform supply vessels from Island Offshore that we used for the campaign. Then sort of the final piece of interest, because you'll see some photographs later on that were taken from it, is the remotely operated vehicle, the Oceaneering ROV, which is in the central part on the bottom of the slide, and that is deployed from the Stena Don rig by dedicated crew. Just some of the components it takes to drill a well. If we move to slide nine, that's the end of the section on the operations, and now I'll move on to the results and the data of the campaign. Onto slide 10.
This really summarizes the results of the Anchois-2 operations. We were successful both at the exploration and appraisal objectives of this well. The schematic shows the updated geological model post-drilling of Anchois-2. What I'll first do is just draw your attention to the Anchois-1 well on both the cartoon, the schematic, and also on the seismic section on the right-hand side. Now, this discovery well was drilled in 2009, and it found just over 50 m of gas pay in the A sand and the B sand reservoir shown in red. From our analysis of reprocessed seismic data and looking at the well results, we believe that there were thin gas pays at the C sands and very good quality water-bearing sands at the M sand at the TD of the original Anchois-1 well.
Looking at the seismic data and all of the attributes and our understanding that we built, we believed that up dip from the original well, we saw improvements in the reservoir quality at the C sand level from the seismic data, and also that we could go up dip in the M sands and bring those good quality water-bearing sands into a potential gas column that was supported by seismic attributes. Our focus on Anchois-2 was very much optimized towards an appraisal of the B sand, but also to put the well in a location where we could explore the upsides from the C and the M sands in particular. A consequence of that was that the A sand was not a major target in Anchois-2.
Our plan was to acquire gas samples from the A sand via the re-entry operations of Anchois-1. Now we're very, you know, pleased that the results of the well, you can see where the well was drilled, that, you know, we were able to deliver success at those exploration objectives. You know, we as a team are 100% committed to the well design to focus on the B sands and the exploration targets. That was backed, you know, by management prior to drilling and, you know, very pleased that we can report on success. Our understanding of the seismic attributes has now been proven by drilling success. What does Anchois-2 results really bring to us? Well, directly, Sorry, we've proved the extension of the B sand accumulation found in Anchois-1. It extends to Anchois-2.
We've discovered additional accumulations in a lower package in the B sand, the B3 lower. We've found gas in the C sand, two intervals in the M sand, and also two thin intervals in the O sands close to TD. We've de-risked upsides, including additional fault blocks at the B sand to the west of the Anchois-1 well. We've also de-risked additional low risk exploration objectives that you can see in the light pink color. This comes from, you know, proving that our calibration of the seismic data to the well has delivered success. In particular at the O sand level that you can see at TD of Anchois-2, it's a new reservoir that we predicted on seismic data. We now know from the well that there are good quality sands at that level.
We can now calibrate the seismic, and that's unlocked and de-risked additional O sand prospectivity in the Anchois field area. I'll present more on that later on. Moving to slide 11. In terms of the wireline logging and formation evaluation, the upper left part of the page shows, you know, the conventional pay analysis. We estimated 55 m of net pay from the original well in the A sand and the B sand. In Anchois-2, in total, we have over 100 m of net gas pay across seven gas zones. In the B sand, the key appraisal objective, we found over 50 m of net pay alone in total in those sands, including a very high quality new lower sand, which you can see on the left-hand side.
High porosities, and as you can see from the red color which is showing the gas saturation, are very high gas saturations within a very clean, high quality, turbidite reservoir sand. In the exploration objective, the C, M, O, we found over 50 m of additional pay in those newly discovered sands. This 100 m of net pay is all based upon sort of conventional log analysis. One other thing that we wanted to do was look for hidden pays or thin, finely laminated pays that are below the resolution of conventional tools. With Halliburton, we were able to bring their latest technology, high-resolution imaging tool, the StrataXaminer 8, and there's an example on the lower left of one of those images.
What we were looking for with this, 'cause it has higher vertical resolution, was to look for thin pays. With the reservoir formation tester, we were able to demonstrate that intervals not identified as pay on conventional logs actually successfully flowed gas. We think there might be additional pay hidden beyond what we've currently estimated. That's an area post-drill that we're gonna continue our analysis to understand exactly what the pay thickness is and the amount of reservoir available within the well. Now in terms of the rocks, it's also useful to get physical rock samples. On the right-hand side shows the coring program that we did. These are sidewall cores that are taken with a wireline coring tool. The sands and the reservoirs at Anchois present challenges because they're soft and poorly consolidated.
You can see from the 2009 well at Anchois-1, the cores extracted there were not done successfully. That was using a sort of percussion coring, and they were not suitable for laboratory analysis. But using the right tools, the right acquisition parameters, and a collaborative approach with the vendor, with Halliburton and our experts, we were able to extract cores that are now to be analyzed in the laboratory. You can see some photographs of those lower right. Moving on to slide 12. This was really the key focus of this campaign for us in terms of wireline evaluation, which is taking fluid samples and pressure measurements with the reservoir description tool from Halliburton. This was an area where Halliburton and their team really excelled.
You know, this tool was down the hole for two days and really was exceptional performance. You know, thanks to them for their efforts and their performance. On the left-hand side, you see the schematic again, and it shows a comparison between Anchois-1 and Anchois-2, and the amount of gas sampling that we've done in the appraisal well. The original well had gas samples taken from the B sands, nothing in the A sand, and that was one of the objects of the Anchois-1 re-entry. You can see that actually we found some thin gas pays at the same level as the A sand in Anchois-2, and we were able to extract gas samples. We also took samples in the B sands, the C sands, the M sands, and the O sands.
12 samples in total across seven different gas zones. We also recovered or took over 60 pressure tests, which is important to be able to characterize the reservoir and understand the permeability, and then make further estimates for productivity of potential producers in the future. What we don't have yet is gas composition from the samples that we analyzed. That has to be done in the laboratory post-drill. From the original well, we do know that the gas quality in the B sands is very good. 97% methane, less than 1% of nitrogen, and importantly, no carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide. A very high-quality gas. Nothing we've seen so far would indicate anything different from the samples that we have. Although, you know, there is potential for some indications of increasing liquid content with depth in Anchois-2.
This isn't a surprise to us because we know that the source of the gas is thermogenic. That means it's coming from deep source rocks, and that has interesting implications for wider exploration on the block in the future. The right-hand side shows an image of the RDT tool. You can see the oval pad and the black rubber sealing element, which fixes against the borehole wall, which allows you then to reduce the pressure and flow the gas samples. Lower right shows one of the screens that we use real time to collaborate with Halliburton, with our experts and our team to monitor what's going on on the campaign and to make sure we take the best quality samples that we can.
Yeah, I think that's it for that page, but a really excellent performance. Moving to slide 13. Following Anchois-2, we then moved the Stena Don rig over for the Anchois-1 re-entry operations. Pre-campaign, the objectives of this were to verify the integrity of the original well, to recover A sand gas samples, and then thirdly, to leave the well in a position where it may be used as a future producer well candidate. Now, as stated in the previous section, we took A sand gas samples in Anchois-2, so the second objective was really dropped from this project. It really demonstrates, you know, sort of our ability to react and to show capital efficiency and discipline for the campaign. What did we do when we were there?
You know, we did invest significant resources in the Anchois-1 campaign. You can see the upper two images. We went through, you know, an extensive operation to clean the external profiles of the Anchois-1 wellhead to allow and to facilitate the BOP connection test. Upper right shows the internal seal face. We had to do an extensive cleaning program to restore that seal to a condition suitable to do the BOP test. You can see lower left, this is an ROV deployed, a polishing tool that was used to clean up that internal sealed face, and with the ROV arm. In the lower, middle image, you can see there.
You can see the Anchois-1 well head, and then the guide funnel connected to the lower part of the BOP connector, as the BOP latching was done successfully with the Anchois-1 well head. We then did pressure testing once the BOP was latched, and we you know we recovered important data and information from that exercise that allows us to you know continue to consider Anchois-1 as a re-entry candidate to be a potential future producer. Lower right shows the ROV deployment of the temporary abandonment cap, which is that sort of orange structure.
We installed these on both Anchois-1 and also on Anchois-2, so both wells are left in a condition where we can come back and re-enter those in the future. Moving through slide 14, and really now I want to describe, you know, the forward plan for us, in Morocco and on this license. On to slide 15. Now despite the, you know, the significant success we've had in exploration in this campaign, job number one for us is still to fast-track the development of the resources at Anchois. Absolutely finding a commercial route and getting to first gas is the key to unlock the upsides that are inherent within the Lixus offshore area.
First thing we'll do is updating of the subsurface development plan, taking on board the results of Anchois-2, update all of the subsurface and reservoir models, so then we can assess the correct well locations and number of wells that are needed for the initial development. What we also will do is integrate the results of the C and M sand discoveries and all of the post-well analysis we'll do on those, and understand how those can be incorporated into the future development. What we're looking at is a sort of 50 million cu ft-70 million cu ft a day initial development, 2-3 initial producer wells. We want to make sure that any development we have is expandable for future growth to incorporate those additional resources.
On the engineering side, we have a collaboration agreement already in place with the Subsea Integration Alliance. We've been through pre-FEED, and we're preparing to take elements of the project through to FEED. We still see this as a simple and standard construction thanks to the good reservoir qualities and excellent gas characteristics that we see. The subsea to shore development concept that we had pre-drill is still valid and what we're planning to roll out as shown on the picture on the right-hand side. In terms of timing, we can see that a two-year timeline from FID to first gas is still very much achievable, and the objective is to achieve first gas within calendar year 2024.
That's the development, and maybe we'll look at some of the exploration upsides, and we'll move on to slide 16 for this. At Anchois itself, and we do see low risk undrilled gas sands within the same structure. Now our well planning was all based upon reprocessed seismic data calibrated to the results of the four previous wells that we saw on block. One of the products that we use is a spectral decomposition and a visualization method based upon that. That's how you see the seismic displayed on this slide. You can see that Anchois-1 found gas in the A sands and the B sands, and you can see the characteristics of this RGB blend here.
You see the yellows and the bright colors signifying gas-bearing sand, and above those, you see this low-frequency or reddish halo just above the proven gas sands. Towards the TD of Anchois-1, you see the blue circle, which is a known water-bearing sand in the M sand. In Anchois-2, you can see that those same characteristics are still there for the gas-bearing sand. The A sand, the B sand, the C sand, the M sand, and also a thin gas column at the O sand level. You can see that the spectral decomposition and those reddish and yellow colors signifying gas have been proven to be correct. Where we see the additional potential here is that at the O sand level in Anchois-2, we found thin gas sitting on an excellent quality reservoir.
This is a new reservoir that hadn't been identified by drilling previously in the basin. The O sands has two very attractive targets in the Anchois area. On the left-hand side in the Anchois Deep prospect, just below and to the left of the Anchois-one well, you can see the same characteristics for gas-bearing sands in a currently undrilled location. On the right-hand side, you can see the Anchois Footwall prospect. This is approximately 150 Bcf as estimated pre-drill. Exactly the same characteristics as proven gas-bearing in both Anchois-one and Anchois-two. The O sands is now materially de-risked and is a, you know, very viable and exciting drilling candidate for future wells at Anchois. Moving on to slide 17. This shows the rest of the Lixus offshore exploration portfolio.
The map on the left-hand side shows the prospect. In the color scheme we have the blue prospects are those that sit within the audited portfolio. That was Netherland, Sewell assessments made in 2019 and in 2020. In pink are additional prospects that we've added post that audit, and we have Chariot management internal estimates for. The total resource of the portfolio contingent plus prospective pre-drill are approaching 4 Tcf. The important thing is, you know, how do we rank this portfolio and how do we manage them and make sure we prioritize the right candidates? Well, the map on the left shows the potential development areas that we need to keep in mind as we prioritize those prospects. First of all, you have the Anchois hub area with an export line coming to shore.
That's very much focused on the Anchois development. Prospects within that area could be subsea tie-backs to the Anchois infrastructure and be low cost, and very high value additional resources, which can be tied back. You then have the Makaro prospect hub area shown in purple. The key prospect there is the Makaro Central prospect and north and south could be tied into another potential development hub. An example of the Makaro Central prospect is shown on the seismic section in the middle of the slide. Again, it has very similar bright amplitudes as proven to the gas-bearing at Anchois field, including far offset anomalies and the same spectral decomposition anomalies that have been proven to be gas-bearing at Anchois. You can see also the amplitude extraction shown upper right.
Now, as audited, that has about 267 Bcf, but that was based upon time migrated data. On the latest data, you know, we believe that, perhaps the resources could be closer to half a Tcf, on that prospect, alone. We also identify a shallow development hub that you can see in pink on the map, and the anchor prospect there is called Ongui. This is a new prospect that has not yet been audited. So you can see the Chariot interpretation and estimate shown upper right. This is a prospect where these sands have been de-risked by the offset Deep Thon well. They were water-bearing there, but we see them as being gas-bearing at Ongui. Again, with the same characteristics as proven gas-bearing in the Anchois area.
It's a stacked target of multiple gas sands with independent structural conformable shutdowns and a total of 235 Bcf best estimate resources. That could be drilled with a single well through that area. That prospect is within 10 km from coast and in less than 100 m water depth. Presents a fast-tracking opportunity, potentially with lower development costs and other development solutions that we could consider from there. I mean, overall the really exciting thing for us is that, you know, we predicted pre-drill seismic toolkit that we needed to identify undrilled gas sands. And I think with Anchois-2, we've demonstrated success.
If that success can be rolled out across this portfolio in similar opportunities, it's not unreasonable to think that the success rate could be, you know, very good in a seismic attribute supported play. Analogs that you can see around the world with very exciting and significant exploration success rates, you can see on the right-hand side. For example, onshore Nile Delta in Egypt and also the onshore part of the Rharb Basin in Morocco. Very high success rates, you know, sort of between 85% and 90% can be possible where you have strong calibration of the seismic data. Moving on to slide 18. This shows some of the potential beyond Lixus.
We do have the Rissana offshore license, which is close to final award, and we hope to have news very soon on that. The Lixus 3D seismic data does extend into Rissana, and you can see on the map that work has already started. We've already identified prospects and leads in that area, both within the extension of the gas play in from Lixus, but also in the lower left or the southwest corner, you can see the Mohammedia area prospects from Chariot's previous licenses that are within the Rissana offshore license area. You know, we believe we've captured the entire play in the offshore part of the basin for very low commitments, 1,000 km of 2D on Rissana. We've already fulfilled the current period work program commitments on Lixus.
It's a very exciting area with a material resource base that can underpin significant long-term growth. Moving on to slide 19, really to sort of wrap up and to summarize the results of the campaign and the forward outlook. In terms of operational performance, no HSE incidents and really outstanding performance from, you know, all of the Chariot team and all of the contractors and sub-contractors involved in the project. We've delivered a success at the appraisal and exploration objectives. We've acquired a very rich and comprehensive data set for further analysis. The forward plan is really in parallel to fast-track a gas development of the Anchois resources to evaluate the significance of those newly discovered sands at Anchois and how those can be incorporated into an expanded development.
Finally, you know, maximizing value from an increasingly low risk attribute-supported exploration play. You know, really, I think the opportunity there is incredibly exciting and, you know, we really look forward to getting stuck into progressing that further in combination with the Rissana license area. Finally, I also want to really thank our Lixus offshore license partner, you know, ONHYM, the state company in Morocco, who've been incredibly supportive throughout the entire project, not just from a subsurface perspective, but also during the operations, to make sure that despite the restrictions we faced, we were able to drill the wells successfully, you know, on time, and in line with budget, you know, for the good of all stakeholders in the project. That's the end of the sort of formal presentation.
I don't know if Adonis, you have any further comments to make before we hand over to Q&A.
Thank you. Thank you, Duncan. I think that about wraps it up for Anchois. Jimmy, I think we'd be happy to open it up. I believe there's quite a few questions, and we'll be happy to answer as many questions as we can from shareholders.
As we begin, what is the required CapEx to get first gas?
The total CapEx of the project is in the region of $300 million, of which 75% is for Chariot's block.
Thank you. What is the current cash on hand? If you can't answer at this stage, when will you provide a trading update?
We will disclose our year-end cash with our final results as we always do. It's worth noting that just before the end of the year, we raised $11.5 million in a fund raising which was significantly oversubscribed. Duncan has already said the well costs were in line with expectations. We've got no debt or other commitments, and we've obviously already met our well commitments.
Thank you. What are the main risks and approvals to be achieved in order to get first gas?
Yeah, the route to first gas involves you know several parallel streams that we have to focus on. For example, we have to put together the integrated development plan, which is subsurface plus all of the surface infrastructure that needs to be in place, that runs in parallel with all of the engineering efforts that we do. We will look to move to an exploitation concession, which is part of that. The development area would be carved out of the exploration license. That is part that has to run in parallel. Clearly, the financing strategy for the project is another parallel stream.
I think it's important to note there that we've already received a very significant interest in the project, as was announced previously from the AFC and also from a major multinational bank who are very interested in leading the financing for the development of the project. The key thing for us is really about pre-campaign, is putting all the groundwork in place so that post-exploration success, we can get after this as quickly as possible. We're not starting with a blank sheet of paper. We've already made significant progress. The other final stream there is really on the commercial stream, and that's the offtake for the gas.
Late last year, we announced an MoU with a strategic offtake partner and the key terms for gas sales for 40 million cu ft a day from the project, which is, you know, a very important sort of anchor contract that we'll look to move on very quickly and progress the discussions on that, because clearly the commercial stream for gas is an important part. There are several streams, but we work very hard to shorten the timelines on those and to put our plans in place ahead of the appraisal campaign.
Thank you. This is a multi-part question. When does the board anticipate Chariot will record profits from production? Does the board anticipate paying dividends from profits? If so, when do you think you may be in a position to commence with this?
We're looking at a two-year build-out. As Duncan has said earlier on, you know, if all things go well and with a good tailwind behind us, you know, first gas at best will be end of 2024, beginning of 2025. You know, it's gonna be a highly profitable business as the margins are high. The precise date of when we're gonna break even and be cash flow positive, I cannot tell you today, but it's about a two-year build. Once you've reached FID. We hope to reach FID this year, sometime during the year. Of course, it's our intention to return excess cash to shareholders. Duncan reiterated, and if you look at the forward plan, the key thing here is a fast-track development plan that we're looking at doing right now.
Thank you. When does the 10-year tax holiday clock start ticking? Is it at first gas or before?
Yeah. It's on commencement of regular production.
At what specific point do ONHYM start contributing their 25% of costs?
It is from the commencement of the exploitation concession.
Thank you. Is the company suitably financed to remove the need to carry out another placing?
I mean, on that point, at the moment, obviously, we have a development ahead of us. We now have many options in order to finance that development. Debt funding that Duncan's already talked about. We have those two expression of interest letters, and those parties are very keen to proceed. We are partnering as well. We announced in October, Duncan touched upon, that we'd agreed a framework to establish a long-term partnership with that leading international energy group. There is potentially groups there as well. As Adonis has said many times, we are a growth business.
The management team are fully aligned with our shareholders, and our focus is on maximizing that value and keeping as much of this amazing, you know, discovery and development as we can for our shareholders.
Thank you. Why did you not flow test Anchois-1, and have other gas projects reached FID under similar circumstances?
Yeah. Regarding flow testing of the well, you know, that that's a very important area. You know, there are technical and also cost reasons behind the decision not to flow test. From a technical perspective, what we could see from the Anchois-1 well already was that the gas was very good quality, you know, dry gas, and also the reservoir, very good quality, so 25%-30% porosities. And from the mobility data we had, from the MDT data from Anchois-1, you know, the permeability of the reservoir was hundreds of millidarcy to potentially over a darcy permeability. So we knew that these wells could produce at very high rate with high productivities. Now, the reason to do a well test is really sort of twofold. One is to establish productivity and confirm that.
We felt in this case, we didn't need to do a flow test to confirm productivity because the reservoirs were inherently so good and obviously so good. In a dry gas reservoir, that's much less important than it is in a, in an oil or heavy oil reservoir. Secondly, the other reason to do that well test would be to try to establish the minimum connected volumes to the well. When you have very high permeability rocks, your radius of investigation when you do a well test, especially a short-term test, is very small because the permeability is good and the drawdown you apply is very small. You don't see volumes from a significant distance from the well bore.
From a technical perspective, we felt that the value of information to be gathered from a well test was not particularly significant, especially considering the large capital outlay that would have been required to do that well test. You know, we would have added, you know, a material amount of cost to the budget for doing it. Have there been examples where fields have got to FID without a surface test? There are. That is based upon building as much confidence in your subsurface models as you possibly can. We focused on this campaign on the wireline logging evaluation and heavy deployment of the RDT tool.
All of those gas samples we took, all of the pressure measurements we took, we'll take away, analyze all of that data, and try to build the most robust and accurate models we can to predict both the productivity of the wells and the future performance and the access to gas volumes. Yeah, we will progress the project based upon all the information that we've been able to do. At the end of the day, if flow testing becomes important for any reason, with the success we've delivered, we will have many more options to execute and to fund that activity in the future than to do that in a much more dilutive situation that we faced last year.
Thank you, Duncan. What is the net present value of the new discovery, and how do you anticipate the field development plan changing?
Now, in terms of assigning a net present value to those newly discovered sands, it's not something we're in a position to do at the moment. Just as a reminder, the NPV estimated on the previously discovered sands based on the 2C resource volumes was around $ 0.5 billion. These newly discovered sands clearly can leverage off the infrastructure that would be built out from the original A and B sand project. We would see that they could be very high value incremental resources, given that they'll leverage off the back of that infrastructure that has to be built out.
In terms of how we incorporate them in the development, what we don't want to do is to sit back, reevaluate everything, you know, take six months over it, and then redesign a larger initial development. We don't want to slow down the route to commercialization. We're going to plan our development for the initial development on the discovered or the previously discovered gas sands, but make sure that we have in mind oversizing where we can. For example, the offshore flow line, let's make sure that that has the capacity to be able to take additional gas resources that may come from the newly discovered sands, so we can bring those new sands onto development as quickly as possible.
Just to reiterate that point, which both Duncan has made and Adonis has made previously, our focus is getting to those material cash flows as quickly as we can.
Thank you. For all investors who've been shareholders for over 10 years, is there a way of being able to reward the long-term investors in any way possible?
Well, the only way to do that is for the share price to go up, and I think the success at Anchois is a step in that direction. It was a long time coming and we put a lot of effort into it and hopefully people will start to realize and understand the real value of what we found over here. Through you know successful collaboration with various partners in all their forms going forward, we will also show in many ways third-party vindication of what we've done over here. I just think it's still fresh at the moment, and I'm not sure the sort of real understanding of the value of what we have here is understood by all just yet.
Yeah. Just to add to that, Adonis, as well, you know, the story has only just started here. We've got a busy period ahead of us. Lots more news as, you know, as we get the gas sampling. You know, we had the reserves report, we announced the FEED, the formal gas sales agreement, completed the debt financing. So from the gas side, it's gonna be a very, very busy year ahead. Then just, you know, not just forgetting that we've got a whole 'nother side of the business which is gonna have lots and lots of triggers and excitement there. The strategic partnering expected, within the renewables power side of the business, the hydrogen projects and partnering there, and the next renewable projects at mines also being announced.
We've got a really, really busy period ahead of us.
What is the timeframe to receive environmental approvals?
For the developments, that's an important statement, and I, perhaps, have omitted that from the list of things we need to do. We do have an EIA in place for the drilling, of course. There are still wells that we can drill under that approval. The EIA process is gonna start imminently for the development, and we very much gotta focus on the onshore scopes, the CPF location and the onshore pipelines that we need to access market. That area is a particular focus in the short term.
I think just to add to that, to reiterate what Duncan previously said, you know, previously about the Moroccan authorities, and Omar specifically, being so supportive, you know, obviously previously, but also specifically during the drilling campaign. Obviously, you know, it is in everyone's benefit to progress this project as quickly as possible to get to that, to get towards that gas production and those material cash flows.
Who will have ownership of the pipelines? How will right of land use be completed?
We're looking at, you know, various strategies for how we contract and build out the infrastructure that is required. There are several locations that we could take the gas to. We're looking at several opportunities for delivery of gas, and those will involve fixed pipelines and potentially virtual pipelines. I think many of those assets are potentially strategic, and the number of parties who'd be interested in participating in the infrastructure build-out is significant. We just need to make sure that we choose the right strategy and the right partners to develop the infrastructure so that on one side we're able to reduce potentially the CapEx of the project.
Secondly, we want to make sure that we maintain control use of the infrastructure, but also any commercial benefit that we can reap from the midstream and downstream parts of the project as well. Aligning interests across the value chain is important, and I think this is a very exciting moment where Chariot can get access to that.
Please, can you let us know when we should receive the results of the discoveries? If the company requires further funding, is it looking at farm out options with another major?
If I deal with the funding side. We've already touched upon this to a certain extent. We're well progressed on the debt funding. We're well progressed on the partnering option that we announced in October specifically. As far as further results, Duncan, I don't know whether you want to consider.
Yeah. No problem. I'd also say that, obviously since drilling the well and releasing the results, we've received renewed interest also on the partnering side from E&P companies as well, unsurprisingly. There's always that avenue to evaluate in the future. In terms of the results from the new sands, we've got cores and the gas samples on their way to the laboratory.
At the moment, that'll take a few months to process all that information and then integrate the results from that into our understanding. You know, we're reevaluating the seismic data, doing the log analysis. This isn't something that we can do overnight. We wanna make sure that when we put out official results relating to those sands, we do it accurately and responsibly. It is something that's gonna take, you know, a few months to put together and make sure that we get those numbers verified in an appropriate way.
Thank you. When will Chariot post its end of 2021 figures? Is there any indication as to the profit or loss for the period?
The end of year figures will be expected within the next couple of months. As far as an indication of the profit and loss of the period, well, I mean, our primary activity during the period has been the drilling of the well. Without getting into too much accounting detail, it's likely that would be capitalized, and therefore would not be hitting the income statement.
Thank you. What is happening with the Rissana license? In view of the successful drill, what now are the operational, financial, and political risks to developing Anchois to full scale production in Morocco?
There's a couple of questions there. Shall I deal with the Rissana piece first of all? Duncan's already touched upon it. All the license documents are finalized. The final stage is putting in place a bank guarantee, which is nearing completion now. Therefore, we anticipate formal signature will occur shortly. Then on the second part, do you know what? I just wanna read that one again.
Yeah. What now are the operational, financial, and political risks to developing the Anchois field?
I think, you know, certainly in a context of Africa, I think, you know, Morocco presents a wonderful opportunity. Politically stable. It is aligned very closely with Europe in terms of its customers for the manufacturing, the products, goods that are created in Morocco. I think it presents an ideal opportunity and a stable country in which to make investments. I'd also note that, you know, Morocco imports around 95% of its primary energy. It's heavily dependent on imported coal for approximately two-thirds of the power that is generated in country. With key target markets being Europe, it's gonna come under increasing pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of its produce. I think developing gas as an alternative to coal is important in Morocco.
What's also important is the role of gas in being an enabler for renewables investment. To move Morocco away from heavy imports for energy, to use more renewables locally and to maximize use from its domestic resource, I think gas is absolutely fundamental and play a key role in that. Because that's so important, I think, you know, our project sits in a very enviable position.
Just to add to that as well, it's worth noting that, you know, a major gas discovery is obviously benefits in Morocco, but it's also on the doorstep of Europe, close to a major international trunk line. We're only about 30 km or so from the coast to that major pipeline.
With the high gas prices and the sort of geopolitical situation that it is at the moment within Europe, it is a good, you know, obviously a good result for Chariot and for Morocco, this major gas discovery.
Thank you. What is ultimate production goal and when do you think you'll be able to achieve this?
Don't ask me what my ultimate production goal is. That's looking 25 years ahead and hundreds of millions of cubic feet a day. You know, we have always planned to roll out with an initial anchor volume in the order of 40 million cu ft -50 million cu ft a day, and then as the markets grow, is then to increase production to deliver into those markets. From the 2C resources pre-drill of 361 Bcf, we were looking to increase production to 70 million cu ft a day after, I think approximately three years, and then to hold that for plateau period of just over 10 years.
Now with the additional resources and with exploration success, you know, I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility, you know, that the production volumes, you know, year 10 could be significantly in excess of 100 million cu ft a day, you know, 150 million cu ft , 200 million cu ft a day. It depends upon our ability to deliver value from the very low risk upsides that exist in the portfolio.
There have been some good discoveries by others off the coast of Namibia and Brazil. Could you outline a plan for your licenses in this area? With the development of renewable energy for the mining industry in Africa and hydrogen feasibility study in Mauritania, is Chariot trying to do too many things too quickly?
Yeah. Jimmy, I'll take this. Thanks. Yeah, so as I said before, the days of Chariot being one roll of the dice are over, and our job is to significantly de-risk our business plan as we go forward. We're obviously very encouraged to hear about the Shell discovery in southern Namibia, and that in fact is where the history of Chariot started, with blocks in southern Namibia. As shareholders will note, we still have a residual interest in our 2714 A and 2714 B blocks in southern Namibia, which are east of this discovery. We also have the central blocks in Namibia, and we have an interest in that as well. The Brazilian authorities have also been quite flexible with regards to license conditions, and we're still seeking a farm out on our Brazilian acreage.
I want everyone to remember that we've written all these assets off to zero in our books, so anything positive that's happened in Namibia is, you know, with the Shell discovery, is just a bonus for Chariot. As far as the renewable energy goes, I'll split it into two. We have the joint venture with Total Eren, and that provides a tier one partner for us, and so we're not left alone trying to build these large wind and solar projects alone. We will be working very closely with Total Eren and, you know, our equity participation in those projects ranges from a low of 15% to a high of 49%.
It's a growing business in sub-Saharan Africa, and every single mining operation out there is looking at how to lower their cost of energy and how to green their energy mix. Chariot plays right into that sweet spot with their partners, Total Eren. As far as the green hydrogen goes, you know, hydrogen is gonna play a very, very important role in energy of the future. Nobody knows exactly how it's gonna roll out, and in what proportions and where exactly it will be used, but we know it's going to be a massive percentage of the energy mix going forward. Chariot has a first-mover advantage. It's managed to secure acreage in partnership with the Mauritanian authorities, where you have some of the best wind, some of the best solar characteristics around.
We have huge acreage as well, and we're close to the markets. You know, Rotterdam is making a play to be the hub of the hydrogen hub of Europe, and we're next door to it. Again, we don't plan on doing this alone. It's a huge project, and we are going to need partners. We're going to need partners because it's such a big project. At the moment, in terms of our pre-feasibility study, you know, we're looking at exactly how we'll take the project forward and what partners we'll bring in. I think the way we look at it from a Chariot point of view, each one of those business could be a billion-dollar business. The gas business, the renewable business, and the hydrogen business.
You know, we really are in three strands that are scalable: gas, renewable energy, and green hydrogen.
Thank you. Is there any data on the porosity of the sands, from the recent drilling discoveries?
Yes. There is. Yeah. The porosity is in line with expectations. As I mentioned earlier, the original well, 25%-30% porosities in the A and B sands. And across all reservoirs that we've encountered, we see very similar quality sand. In 20s-30s sort of scale of porosity. Before putting out final numbers and averages, we do want to make sure that we conclude all the petrophysical analysis, including results from the sidewall cores, including results from the image logs and doing thin pay analysis to supplement the conventional analysis. We see these reservoirs as being very good quality, especially in the context of the gas project.
Thank you. Why is the company share price currently below analyst targets?
Well, I think it's the point that we previously discussed, that this is obviously new news, new discovery. Our share price has risen significantly over the last year. We're gonna get out there, we're gonna get the message out there, bang the drum, and make sure the market knows about the value that is in Chariot for our shareholders.
Is Shell's Graff-1 discovery analogous with any of Chariot's Namibian prospects?
Obviously, the results from the well are not particularly detailed or described by the operator, so there is some speculation there. From the reports that we've seen so far, we understand that the age of the reservoir sands is similar to the good quality reservoirs that we found in our drilling campaign in 2018 on the central blocks area. However, in terms of the source rocks and the petroleum systems, it's very much part of the Orange Basin, which is where the 2714A and 2714B blocks are located, which is where the Kabeljou well was drilled, back in 2012. Impossible to say whether it's directly analogous or not, but overall, it is in the same sort of petroleum system in terms of central source rocks, their ages and the reservoir systems.
It's just where those things sort of come together. Obviously, it's very exciting news and having been real leaders in flying the flag for Namibian exploration, I think it's really gratifying and you know really all of our friends and colleagues in the Namibian authorities, they deserve any success that may come from the ongoing drilling programs there.
Thank you. In terms of pre-drill prognosis, was that if all reservoirs found gas, the expected reserves were estimated at 900 Bcf. Chariot reported results exceeding expectations. What does Chariot think the estimated 2C reserves will be following completion?
Clearly, it's too early for us to say what that figure is going to be. During the preparations for this drilling campaign, you know, we moved from, you know, sort of primary targets being, you know, appraisal with an opportunity to deepen into what we believe to be very low risk, exploration upside, in particular at the C Sand. Now, what we did, just prior to drilling and then also during drilling, was to push the well more towards exploration, as I described earlier. And we found particularly the M Sands were thicker than originally expected. And also the M Sands were not as low risk as the C Sands, but they were still gas-bearing. Seismic signature was not as strong. It was more of a modest response.
Actually very delighted to see that the M Sands were good quality and gas-bearing. Really around that, the thickness of those sands, the fact they were gas-bearing and successful, exceeded our expectations. Based upon the good drilling conditions and the results we were seeing, we took the decision to continue drilling down to the O Sands objective to get really what was a stratigraphic control of a potential new reservoir. We're absolutely delighted to find that we also established gas-bearing sands and gas columns at that level. At TD, nice quality, thick O Sand reservoirs ultimately which were water-bearing at the base of the well.
That gives us a very important calibration point to understand what O sands look like with water, model what they look like with gas, and use that information to de-risk the other prospects within Anchois. It's really, you know, a combination of the full package of information that we got from the campaign that, you know, exceeded some of our expectations at the outset.
Thank you. Do you expect to receive a takeover bid? If so, would you consider a JV if approached, or would you rather go it alone in Morocco?
We're always gonna assess each business decision on its own merits. What we will always do is take the best decision that we think is appropriate for the Chariot shareholder and all Chariot stakeholders. I just wanna stress that management and the board are significant shareholders in Chariot, and so we're fully aligned with the shareholder base. We'll worry about those problems when they come. I will say this, we're ever more confident in the Anchois success. We want to try and keep as much of this project as possible because we think there's a lot more upside to come still.
I think Duncan just, in his presentation, gave a flavor of what sits on the concession area and what more we can expect from it.
Thank you. Adonis, could you kindly outline the key terms of the partnership with the government of Mauritania? How much Chariot is investing and what does it expect to receive in return?
None of those terms have been set just yet. What Chariot is committed to do is do the pre-feasibility studies, and at that point, decide on the path forward. We do expect that the Mauritanian government will be a shareholder in the business. We don't know exactly the size of the project. We said we know it's up to 10 GW. We don't exactly know what the CapEx will be. What we have said and what we've confirmed with the Mauritanian government is that this will be a consortium of companies. It will not just be Chariot and the Mauritanian government alone. It will be a multinational mix of players. That's what we're aiming for.
Thank you. Are Chariot still expecting to receive the formal award of the Rissana license and when can this be expected?
Yes. As I've already said, yes, it will be. It will occur shortly.
It was previously indicated that partnering for green hydrogen was underway. What price do you expect to sell green hydrogen to the mining sector, and how does this compare with the expected cost of production?
We don't know the answers to those questions yet. These are all subject to further analysis. I'm just not sure anybody knows the answers to any of those questions because there hasn't been a large-scale green hydrogen project built just yet. Part of our scoping studies and pre-feasibility studies are trying to get to that, those numbers. What ultimately will you be able to produce your hydrogen at and in what form and where will you send it? Remember, the green hydrogen is not specifically just for the miners. The green hydrogen you can export all around the world in the form of ammonia, which is the common method that everyone is talking about. There is discussion about transporting as liquid hydrogen. I'm just not 100% sure the technology from an economics point of view is there yet.
From a scientific point of view, it's there, but whether one can economically transport liquid hydrogen over long distances, I don't think is there just yet. Ammonia is what people are talking about in the form of transporting hydrogen around the world.
It's also just adding to that as well, Adonis. It's obviously worth noting that, you know, Mauritania, you know, it really has world-class, you know, solar and wind resources. Obviously, you know, we're close to the European market as well.
Yep.
Thank you. The next question is multi-part. What I might do is just ask it one question at a time. What are the chances of success for Anchois North and and O Footwall.
The chances of success, I might just have to dig those out to give the numbers. We have pre-drill risk assessment on those as estimated by Netherland, Sewell. If I remember right, they sit in their high 30s to low 40s percent chance of success. Clearly, that's one of those areas where, based upon the results of Anchois-2, we will now look at reassigning chance of success to all the prospects in the portfolio based upon what was found.
Explain why the Lixus area is de-risked and what are the chances of success for those areas?
Yeah, I mean, we were able to look at the four previous wells drilled on the block. Across those wells, we were fortuitous that we had, you know, results from a successful gas well in Anchois. A well called Deep Thon that found good quality reservoirs, but they were water-bearing with no gas. A well called Mérou that had thin gas pays within reasonable reservoirs. Then Larach-1 , which was a well that was drilled with gas indications, but really very little reservoir. Across those four wells, you've really covered the full spectrum of potential well outcomes. You can calibrate the seismic data with those well outcomes and realize what the seismic data is telling you about reservoir quality and fluid fill. We'd already built a good understanding, we felt, the toolkit to detect undrilled gas-bearing sands.
We put that to the test at Anchois-2, and it was successful. We've also gathered an amazing data set in Anchois-2, including additional sonic data, including compressional and shear, and also VSP or vertical seismic profiles that allow us to calibrate seismic data with even more confidence. We'll look at applying all of that knowledge and understanding across all of the portfolio prospects within Lixus to then see the impact upon the chance of success. The clear thing is the chance of success is only gonna get better, and I think it's gonna get materially better from what we had in our previous estimates.
You reported a deep sub-nappe prospect below Anchois. What's the potential resources and has this been de-risked?
Great question. Yeah, I mean, so in the sub-nappe area, so these are deeper targets, potentially in the lower part of the tertiary or in the Cretaceous or Jurassic. It's an area of potential that's been explored for onshore Morocco for decades, and there has been some discoveries of oil within that section onshore. The key offshore is quality imaging from modern 3D seismic data. Our PSDM reprocessing we did with 2020, in 2020 allowed us for the first time to actually image the sub-nappe stratigraphy with any great clarity. In that, we were able to see very, very large structures up to 30 sq km . These are four-way dip closed structural targets, in what is potentially good quality reservoir. As we mentioned earlier on the call, we know that the gas at Anchois is thermogenic.
It is coming from a source rock buried at sort of 6 km- 8 km depth of burial to get up to the maturity to give the dry gas seen at Anchois. All that gas has come from the sub-nappe section and has filtered up into the Tertiary of Anchois. There is an increasingly interesting opportunity for sub-nappe exploration. This is clearly going to be higher risk because the stratigraphy is lesser known. But the size of prize is potentially very large. You know, hundreds of BCF or multi TCF potential in single prospects in the sub-nappe. We're gonna go through a phase of additional work on the seismic data to try to improve the imaging and the depth control in the sub-nappe section. We have received interest from parties who are interested by sub-nappe exploration.
Clearly it's not a focus for us, and it's not going to suck up large amounts of Chariot's capital. We want to see ways in which we can maximize value from all of the exploration portfolio, including the sub-nappe, by leveraging off potential other parties.
Can you explain how you might be able to develop the additional satellite fields around Anchois?
This is something we've always looked at. I mentioned earlier, we want to make sure that the offshore flow line has the capacity to increase gas, you know, significantly beyond the initial volumes. What we'll also do with that infrastructure offshore is to ensure that there are tie-in points. Every time we deploy infrastructure to tie the initial wells, we leave spare slots and manifolds or pipeline end terminations that allow us then to easily tie in additional producer wells. We also will allow the controls and any hydrate suppression like glycol to then be accessed via those additional wells. We reduce the amount of additional infrastructure that needs to be put in place. That's an inherent part of our plan.
We're already contemplating the offshore pipeline routing and infrastructure to allow those satellite prospects like Anchois West, like Anchois North, to be very easily and cost effectively tied in to the Anchois infrastructure.
The final one of this section. Are you concerned about potentially producing from Anchois-1 in the future as it is close to gas-water contacts, or will you re-complete by sidetrack away from the water contact point to avoid water handling issues?
Yeah, I mean, in general, in offshore gas fields like this, one of the key things to do is to avoid significant water production to load the wells and reduce productivity. It's something we're always aware of. Our completion strategy is always to make sure that we have vertical barriers or baffles wherever possible to isolate the reservoirs from potential aquifers. What that would mean specifically for Anchois-1, we think we can complete that well effectively and protect ourselves from water. But you know, clearly as part of our revised studies, we need to look at, you know, what are the optimized locations, not just for the A and B sands, but how to correctly penetrate the additional sands.
I would say that we've done lots of reservoir simulation work, and we've looked at aquifer sensitivities and see how sensitive this field is to the size of the aquifer and potential water production. From what we can see at the moment is that it is a low risk part of the project. You know, the aquifer volumes are very small compared to the gas resources. We don't think it's a major risk, but it's something that we will continue to contemplate.
What are you doing with the option of the 10% comeback from the Namibia license?
There is nothing particularly to do. It's in place. We have our rights, we have the option. There are events that would ultimately trigger that option, such as exploration drilling. It's an opportunity that we've managed to create, you know, a positive relationship with NAMCOR there to assist them in progressing exploration on the block but to retain value to Chariot in the event that there is success there. Really it's to play our role in that agreement, which is helping to promote those areas and allow NAMCOR to bring whatever partnerships are required to advance the exploration in that area. To add to that, as Don previously said, we're holding Namibia and Brazil at zero. We fully wrote them down a couple of years.
Any value here is obviously additional upside for our shareholders, which we will clearly look to maximize.
Please can you remind us what the OpEx and CapEx of the Anchois development project is likely to be in the base case?
The CapEx was covered in the order of $300 million go forward, you know, reusing the wells that we drilled. In terms of operating costs, it fluctuates depending on the production, but it's in the sort of you know, we modeled sort of low $20 million per annum in terms of operating costs for the initial development.
Has Gibraltar and the U.K. been considered for a distribution point for expediency and ease of trading?
In the use of trading?
Yeah, trading.
Okay. Remember the pipeline goes up Mediterranean into Spain, right? That's where the existing pipeline goes into. You know, I don't know how one would use Gibraltar just yet or the U.K., but 'cause the pipeline doesn't touch Gibraltar, it touches Spain.
Thank you. Is the company planning a capital raise in the next 12 months?
I think I've already sort of discussed funding in quite a bit of detail. We have lots of options ahead of us. It's about, you know, the management team are fully aligned with the shareholders, and it's about maximizing that value for our shareholders.
Can shareholders expect incoming cash receipts for back costs from any Anchois license partnering, which now must be acutely more attractive given the recent successful campaign?
I think, yeah, that's a fair statement. I think the value of the project has gone up significantly, thanks to the results of the campaign. You know, traditionally, any partnering involves share of back costs, and then also contribution towards future expenditure. I can't see that model changing in the event of any partnering success.
What was the pre-drill expectation for A sand and O sand? Was this above or below expectations?
On the A sands, we, as I described earlier, we as a package, we looked at the campaign of Anchois-2 and the Anchois-1 re-entry and tried to make sure that we made the right investment and focused on the right things across the two. Doing the Anchois-1 re-entry gave us the opportunity to liberate Anchois-2 away from having to penetrate and recover gas samples from the A sand. What we did do was that we positioned the well in an area of low amplitude, but where we felt there could be an extension of the A sands to the Anchois-2 location. We were very pleased to see gas-bearing sands in Anchois-2 and to take gas samples from that. I would say that it wasn't a surprise necessarily, not a complete surprise to find sands there.
You know, we were very pleased to have still found gas-bearing sands at the Anchois-2 location. Now, in terms of the O sands, the O sands was an objective that was identified purely from seismic analysis. We didn't have a direct tie to any wells demonstrating reservoir, so it was a stratigraphic test for us to continue that well into the O sands. From what we have, I would say we exceeded expectations.
Thank you. What sort of permeabilities did you encounter in the B, C, M and O sands?
Direct permeability measurements aren't possible. From the RDT work and taking the pressures, we could see that the permeabilities were good throughout. There were variations, but certainly good permeabilities and our ability to flow gas was demonstrated across a variety of different reservoir facies and intervals. I mentioned earlier the Anchois-1 results where the estimates there were for sort of hundreds of millidarcies or potentially in excess of darcy permeability in good quality rock. We have recovered sidewall core samples, and we will look to do porosity and permeability measurements on those within the lab to calibrate the qualitative observations that were made during the logging program.
Is the main residual data uncertainty at Anchois, and are you comfortable with the continuity of reservoir characteristics across the discovery?
Yes. I mean, there is still data to do. What we want to make sure is that when we put out the final data and final numbers and final interpretation in detail, we get it right. We recognize that if you make statements that subsequently you have to row back from, it's not a good position. So we want to be absolutely 100% confident in the information that we put out there. In terms of continuity of the reservoirs, we see that in the upper B sand levels. In terms of the continuity and lateral distribution of the other reservoirs that we found, you know, we'll have to continue a detailed analysis of the data and then update at an appropriate moment. The reservoirs all came in very close to the pre-drill prognosis.
You know, the seismic interpretation we did pre-drill has been validated by the well results.
Thank you. Have you considered conducting a DST in order to obtain reservoir deliverability and reserves?
I think we've already covered.
With such an exciting gas opportunity set, how do you see capital allocation in relation to the energy projects?
Yeah. I think we are gonna look at clever ways of funding all of these businesses, and a lot of it is done through partnership. As Jules mentioned earlier on, we have many, many different options now about how to de-risk the business and bring funding in. It's not to say that every funding we do has to be done at the corporate level or at the public company level. We're looking at various options. You will note, and Cheryl will note, that we did recently raise the $11.5 million, of which some of that funding was earmarked for the renewable side of the business.
Thank you. In the January RNS, it was stated there were no water-bearing reservoirs in A2. Is this still the case as the cross-sections presented today suggest a number of GWCs were encountered in the well?
In the well, in the exploration objectives, we drilled a long section of gas-bearing reservoirs through the C and the M sands, and that's what's depicted at the well location in the presentation. As I mentioned at TD of the well, where TD was called in the O sands, we had water-bearing reservoirs at the end of the well, which in part led to the decision to finalize drilling at that point. Across the C and the M sands, I'd say in general, we found more reservoir than expected, all gas-bearing reservoir and you know no indications of water-bearing rock.
The water-bearing side of things comes from the Anchois-1 well, where we know that we have water-bearing sands at the M sand level.
Thank you. At the October presentation, FID was broadly anticipated in mid-2022, leading to first gas in mid-2024. Is there a reason for the slight slippage?
I'm not sure there's a slippage. I mean, we've always said that the earliest we'll get first gas is the end of 2024. You know, if, as I said earlier on, if everything goes according to plan, end of 2024 is achievable. Aggressive, but achievable. We do need a lot of things to go in our favor. End of 2024, beginning of 2025 is when we can expect first gas, and it's a two-year build from the FID decision. That's what we anticipate.
Was a well test not planned pre-drill?
It was not. Subsurface formation testing, yes. Surface DST testing, no.
Thank you. How would you describe the political risk in the region?
I think we've covered that.
Yeah.
Uh, on the-
Look-
Sorry, Adonis.
No, Duncan covered it earlier on. That's what I was gonna say, you know, Morocco is a very stable jurisdiction in which to operate.
On the transitional power side, did you say you want to secure 1 GW of projects, as the presentation says the pipeline is 0.5 GW? Do you need to extend your pipeline significantly to exceed this?
As we've said publicly before, when we bought AEMP, which is now Chariot Power, the pipeline had 500 MW in it already. With the Chariot sister companies and the Pella group of companies, we believe there's another 500 MW available over the year. Our goal, our aspirational goal, is to have 1 GW signed up with Total Eren. I wanna be clear, that is on the renewable energy for mining clients. It excludes the green hydrogen.
Thank you. How long are the lead times for critical pieces of equipment?
Critical pieces of equipment for the development, we've already been looking into that underneath the partnerships that we have. There is nothing in there that contradicts the two-year build-out that we've described. The longest lead times are still significantly under that. For areas where we see lead times becoming critical, we can always bring some of that procurement ahead of an FID decision to ensure that long lead times do not impact upon first gas. One of the great things here is, thanks to the gas composition that we have, we can use standard material and sort of standard equipment specifications. In terms of the engineering lead times involved, that's all very short and actually quite a lot of the equipment is virtual or partially already in stock.
We don't see that as being critical.
Thank you. Have you attracted any new institutional investors after the excellent H2 results?
Yes. I think the answer is 18 months ago, Chariot didn't have any institutional investors to speak of. Today, and through the previous two fundraisings we've done, I'm glad to say that for the first time in a couple of years, we have new institutions that are part of the shareholder mix. At the moment, with some of our brokers, we are speaking to possible new shareholders as always in promoting the business. I'm confident and hopeful that with these new results we can start to attract new institutions and even add to our additional institutional base.
The final question: Is there a risk that post lab tests, a similar evaluation, the gas find is not as commercial or as significant as initial expectations?
You know, as I mentioned, we already have gas composition from Anchois-1 in what was always regarded as the key reservoir to underpin any development. That was the B sand. That had approximately two-thirds of the contingent resources that were estimated pre-drill with already, you know, gas composition data available on it. Nothing we had during drilling would contradict that or say that we have a materially different gas composition at other levels. You know, clearly that all needs to be verified by lab analysis. I don't see any significant risk that, you know, the commerciality of the project is going to be jeopardized by those results.
Thank you, Duncan. As just mentioned, there are no further questions, so I'll hand back the team for any closing remarks.
Thank you, Jimmy. Thank you to our shareholders for participating in this presentation. We'll keep everyone posted as and when we have new results and new news. Nothing more from me. Thank you very much.