Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie plans to host an auction for every year until all of its offshore acreage is under contract.
Its Managing Director, Annand Jagesar, disclosed this to OilNOW in an exclusive interview at its headquarters in Suriname’s capital on Aug 29.
Suriname’s last offshore auction received several bids. The names of the bidders are yet to be disclosed. Eleven blocks were put on auction. Staatsolie’s Hydrocarbon Institute (SHI) said the blocks, situated between the onshore-producing oilfields and the deepwater discoveries, fall within water depths of up to 150 meters. SHI said recent mapping on these blocks has identified over 98 leads and prospects which have been interpreted from existing 2D and newly acquired multiclient 3D seismic data. Collectively, SHI noted that these leads and prospects host a significant volume of oil with an aggregate mean unrisked STOIIP (stock tank oil initially in place) amounting to an “impressive 91 billion barrels.” STOIIP refers to an estimate of how much oil in a reservoir is economically recoverable.
Jagesar shared that Staatsolie is also looking at an aggressive “open door policy.”
“So if a company comes in with a proper development plan and they want to explore, we could look at it,” he explained.
Just 40% of Suriname’s offshore oil blocks have been licensed, some 32 million acres, leaving over 60% untouched and ripe with potential. Seismic data obtained by Staatsolie suggests that the Suriname basin holds some 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
