Scotland's Cairn Energy plans first offshore well in Morocco EDINBURGH, Scotland, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Scottish company Cairn Energy said it was committed to embarking on frontier exploration in the offshore energy sector of Morocco. Operations would begin "shortly" on a well off Morocco in a new exploration adventure for the company, Cairn said in a statement Thursday. Morocco has seen growing interest from international oil and natural gas companies. U.S. company Plains Exploration and Production, Gulfsands Petroleum, based in London, and Turkish company Genel Energy have all made moves on the emerging Moroccan market. The CIA World Factbook estimates that, as of January 2012, Morocco had proven oil reserves of around 680,000 barrels, 99th in the world. Natural gas estimates from 2012 were at 49 billion cubic feet, 98th in the world.