Morocco convinced of legality of oil drilling contracts in southern provinces, Benkhadra

Morocco is convinced of the legality of the contracts signed with its partners in matters of oil drilling in the southern provinces, said Thursday Ms. Amina Benkhadra, head of the Moroccan Oil Drilling and Exploitation Office (ONAREP).

"The southern provinces are an integral part of the Moroccan territory. We thus have the right to conduct any kind of investment in these provinces," Benkhadra told the press in Laayoune.

The United Nations Security reckoned the legality of the contracts signed by Morocco with its partners.

Benkhadra met in Laayoune with representatives of the US Kerr Macgee and the French Total Fina Elf, which are bound to Morocco by oil drilling contracts in the southern provinces.

Morocco already invested in infrastructures and in other development fields in these provinces and we are now starting a new phase, she said.