Morocco to take control of gas field after UK’s Sound Energy exits

• Company sells stake for $57m
• Tendrara has 10 bcm gas reserves
• One of Morocco’s main onshore fields

Morocco is set to take full control of one of its main gas fields after British company Sound Energy sold its stake in the concession.

London-based Sound Energy said this week that it had entered into a binding agreement for the divestment of its 20 percent interest in the onshore Tendrara exploitation concession.

The company said it sold the stake in Sound Energy Merijda Limited (SEML) to the government-backed Managem company for $57 million.

The deal marks Sound Energy’s complete exit from one of Morocco’s most closely watched onshore gas developments.

The sale brings Managem’s stake in the Eastern Tendrara field to 75 percent, held through two subsidiaries – Mana Energy Limited and the newly acquired SEML. Morocco’s national hydrocarbons agency, ONHYM, retains the remaining 25 percent.

The transaction follows Sound Energy’s June 2024 decision to farm out a 55 percent operating interest in Tendrara to Mana Energy, a wholly owned Managem subsidiary that serves as operator of the Tendrara concession and the Anoual exploration permits.

Located in the Oriental region, the Tendrara concession spans 133 square kilometres and carries estimated reserves of 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas, according to the Moroccan ministry of energy transition and sustainable development.

Sound Energy’s decision to exit Morocco came nearly six months after it announced the flow of gas from Tendrara for the first time in late 2025.

The first flow had entered the gas gathering system in preparation for long-term production into a micro LNG plant, Sound Energy said in December.

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The ministry unveiled plans last year to invest $700 million in a project to build pipelines to connect its planned liquefied natural gas terminal on the Mediterranean.

The pipelines will link the Nador port terminal with an existing pipeline connecting Morocco to Spain as well as industrial zones in the cities of Mohammedia and Kenitra in the country’s northwest, the ministry said.

The North African state, which imports around 90 percent of its energy requirements, is seeking to diversify its sources of power generation away from coal.