Oil explorer Tangiers Petroleum (TPET:AIM) is emerging from a tumultuous period and the commencement of drilling offshore Morocco could be a timely catalyst to sustain share price momentum.

Year-to-date the senior executive team has been replaced, a mooted merger has collapsed and the counter fallen by as much 30% in between various periods when trading was suspended. But the firm is now staging a comeback, with the focus shifting to the TAO-1 well.

This well is targeting a substantial 758 million barrels of oil equivalent and Tangiers is fully carried for the first $33 million spent by its partner Galp Energia. It then contributes a third of the costs above that. With an estimated well budget of $75 million, Tangiers’ share is likely to be in the order of $14 million. To provide headroom in case of cost over-runs the explorer raised around $9 million in two separate placings last month.

TAO-1 has three main targets, Assaka, Trident and, should the well be successful, the deeper TMA. The rig is en route to the well location and drilling should commence before the end of June with results from Assaka expected in July and Trident in August. The firm’s highly anticipated Moroccan exploration effort is yet to yield a commercial discovery but TAO-1 is in shallower water than other wells and according to Tangiers director Steve Staley the nearby Cap Juby heavy oil discovery offers an encouraging read-across.

Exploration is high risk but in Tangiers’ case could prove rewarding at 16.2p.