Oil: 'God's gift to Morocco'

King Mohammed will welcome much needed oil revenues

By Nick Pelham

Morocco's King Mohammed VI is due to release details on the size of oil reserves discovered at Talsinnt in eastern Morocco during a visit to the oil site on Wednesday.

Moroccan Energy Minister Youssef Tahiri said the king would also unveil a new energy policy.

On Sunday, King Mohammed announced the discovery of what he said were abundant and high quality reserves of oil but did not give estimates of the size of the reserves.

The discovery is a major boon for the Arab world's largest importer of oil.

Crucial time

And it comes at a crucial time for King Mohammed's programme of modernisation; after one year on the throne he is grappling with an economic crisis, exacerbated by the high cost of oil.

One in four people in the cities are jobless and rural areas are stricken by drought.

Morocco's future as an oil producer will help the king allay social pressures, but it could also carry risks.

In his speech this week, King Mohammed sought to quash fears that oil would erode Morocco's highly diverse economy.

He said revenues would be used for training and agricultural development.

He also said Morocco would not squander the wealth, as he put it, in laziness, mass consumerism and the paralysing of human and natural resources.

Concerns

Many Moroccans will see that as an allusion to the fate of other north African states, particularly neighbouring Algeria.

There are already concerns that oil could aggravate tense ties with Algeria.

The oil field lies about 160 km from the border, not far from a battlefield where the two rivals once went to war.

Still now the frontier remains closed, under dispute and highly militarised.

Oil, the king said, was God's gift to Morocco; Moroccans hope it does not spell trouble as well.