Major oil firms are ramping up their search for oil in Morocco on the back of political stability in the North African country.

Morocco was once said to be lacking energy reserves compared to its neighbours Algeria and Libya, which have been members of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for many years.

According to Reuters, Morocco’s geological and technological advances which revealed great prospects of offshore reserves have appealed to the oil majors.

The oil majors that have started work in Morocco include Australia’s Pura Vida Energy, Britain’s BP and Caim Energy and Chevron, the second biggest oil firm in the US.

Damon Neaves, the MD of Australia’s Pura Vida Energy, told Reuters 10 oil shafts would be bored off the country’s coast in the next year and a half.

“That represents an investment of $500 million to $1 billion, and that is a big show of confidence from the industry,” Neaves told Reuters in an interview.

“It is still a frontier region and is underexplored compared to other parts of the world,” Reuters also quoted Neaves as saying.

BP last week said it had struck a deal with Kosmos Energy, an exploration firm focussed on emerging markets of Africa and South America, so it could take a shareholding in three offshore blocks off Morocco. According to Reuters, drilling will start next year.

Cairn Energy on Thursday last week said it would soon commence drilling off the coast of Morocco.

This comes shortly after Chevron in January said it had “taken up” three offshore blocks off the Morocco coast.