UK-based gas exploration and production firm Sound Energy has said it has failed to establish the presence of recoverable gas at the first of three planned wells at its concession in the Greater Tendrara prospect in Morocco.

The TE-9 well was drilled to a total measured depth of 2925 metres and would now be plugged and abandoned, SoundEnergy told the London Stock Exchange.

It encountered 60 metres of dolomitised silty sandstone, interpreted as an age equivalent to the primary target sandstone.

A petrophysical analysis of the wireline data indicated the interval was of low porosity and therefore poor reservoir quality, the firm said in its disclosure.

Morocco’s government in October approved Sound Energy’s purchase of a 47.5 per cent stake in the Greater Tendrara concession through an eight-year agreement.

US energy services firm Schlumberger and Morocco’s state oil and gas firm ONHYM own 27.5 per cent and 25 per cent respectively in the Greater Tendrara concession, which spans some 14,500 square kilometres.

In the first four years, Sound and its partners will be required to drill at least two wells while the first two-year extension period will require one further well to be drilled and a second two-year extension period will require a fourth new well to be drilled.