OREANDA-NEWS. Gulfsands Petroleum plc the oil and gas production, exploration and development company with activities in Syria, Morocco, Tunisia and Colombia is pleased to provide the following update on drilling activities in Morocco and the completion of the sale of the Group's interests in the Gulf of Mexico, USA.

Drilling operations on the Dardara Southeast 1 well (DRC-1), located within the Rharb Centre Permit in Northern Morocco, have now commenced using the COFOR SAS Cabot 750 rig. The DRC-1 well is the second well to be drilled based on the interpretation of 3D seismic survey data shot by Gulfsands on the Rharb Centre Permit in 2013.

The DRC-1 well is designed to be drilled to a total vertical depth of approximately 1280 metres and will evaluate two distinct predicted Miocene aged reservoirs contained within a fault bound structural closure, and that have been identified from 3D seismic data as having the potential to be gas bearing. The well is located approximately 2 km southeast of the DAR-1 well, where good quality reservoir sands were encountered at the primary target level which however were water bearing. The DRC-1 well location is structurally updip from the DAR-1 location, and coincides with the appearance of strong seismic amplitude anomaly reflectors that may indicate the presence of an updip gas accumulation.

The Company expects that drilling operations at DRC-1 will be completed within 28 days.

Upon completion of drilling operations at DRC-1, the Company has two further drilling locations in a ready state with drilling pads prepared, and information concerning the choice of the next drilling location will be provided shortly.

Mahdi Sajjad, the Company's CEO commented:

"We are very pleased that the Company has re-commenced drilling operations in Morocco and look forward to seeing the results of this next well. The high quality 3D seismic data we acquired in the Rharb Centre Permit area has greatly enhanced our chances of success with regards to future exploration activity on the permit, as highlighted by the successful LTU-1 gas discovery which should commence production shortly".