Eesti Energia Joint Venture to Assess Moroccan Shale Field
The state-owned energy giant Eesti Energia announced today that its subsidiary, Enefit Outotec Technology, has signed a deal to perform a preliminary analysis of the Tarfaya oil shale deposit in Morocco.
The goal of the cooperation agreement, which EOT signed with Dublin-based energy group San Leon Energy Plc, is to assess whether Eesti Energia's technology can be used to exploit the field's estimated 500 million barrels of oil shale, the company said in a release.
Delivery of equipment and startup support for an Enefit280 oil plant are also written into the later stages of the project.
EOT, a joint venture between Eesti Energia and the engineering company Outotec, was set up in 2009 for the sale and production of Eesti Energia's Enefit shale oil production technology.
The new project will not be Eesti Energia's first foray into Moroccan reserves. In 2010, it analyzed the Aghbala and Errachidia deposits, but found the quality of the rock too poor to justify processing.
Steve Roman