When the oil of the Agadir basin makes people talk in the east as in the west

The British oil and gas exploration, development and production company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), Europa Oil & Gas, which operates the Inezgane offshore area, in its interim half-year results (H2) announced an estimate of a significant volume of risk-free recoverable oil resources, exceeding 1 billion barrels in five prospects south of the Kingdom at Inezgane Offshore, located in the Agadir basin.

The news of the discovery of oil had quickly made the rounds of the world and the press seized upon each media its interpretation. Some have used lusts, jealousies and other feelings and resentments to trigger a campaign and have tested reason until it has led astray, especially among our neighbors to the east and west. Very close to us in Moroccan and therefore Saharan territorial waters which annoy the Canary Islands so much, the prospection of gas and oil by Morocco continues to cause a stir. Indeed, the government of the Canary Islands rises against what it calls “the policy of the fait accompli”with the support of the United States and Israel to become a “dominant power” in North West Africa by calling us expansionists.

A “do as I say, not as I do!” ” somehow. Indeed in 2014 the Spanish oil company Repsol, had explored in this maritime area without embarrassment and without reproach in search of oil precisely. This was followed by the adoption in early 2020, by Morocco, in its full right moreover, of two laws to delimit its territorial waters up to 12 miles and the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 miles from its shores in full compliance with international law. This delimitation encroached on Spanish territorial waters in the Canary Islands. The two governments had then agreed to resolve the issue by mutual agreement and in accordance with international law in the matter, and the latter in this specific case pleads fully in our favour.

The European Energy Commission, last November, declared itself incompetent to settle this dispute between Morocco and Spain regarding oil prospecting in the maritime zone which separates the Canary Islands from Morocco. Günther Oettinger, European Commissioner for Energy on behalf of the EU urged both parties to resolve any disputes in this regard by “peaceful means by conforming to the principles of the United Nations Charter, the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea”. It should be recalled that Rabat is a signatory to the United Nations Convention (MontegoBay) on the Law of the Sea. The Kingdom had a period of 10 years to delimit its continental shelf. Also, the government has adopted three pieces of legislation to this end, because the deadline should end during the current year.

So much for the section of the Canary Islands which have made our waters their hobbyhorse. As if to drive the point home, the Association of Spanish Petroleum Geologists and Geophysicists (AGGEP) put the “find” of the British company into perspective and questioned the results of this prospecting work, explaining that all the figures fall into the category of undiscovered or prospective resources and capacity crude oil, announced in which case would only be used to satisfy the oil demand of a medium-sized country like Spain which consumes 1.3 million barrels per day and nearly 500 million barrels per year for two years. This project is not profitable, in view of the high extraction costs due to the depth of the sea, according to experts“. And to think that we are only at the oil exploration stage!