Apache Corporation remains highly enthusiastic about prospects offshore Suriname and the discoveries it has made to date at Block 58, labelling the last target where it hit pay – Kwaskwasi-1 – as the ‘best well’ encountered so far.
Kwaskwasi-1, announced in July this year, was drilled to a depth of approximately 6,645 meters (21,800 feet) and successfully tested for the presence of hydrocarbons in multiple stacked targets in the upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals.
Apache President and CEO John Christmann told investors last week the company is prioritizing long-term returns over growth, generating free cash flow, strengthening its balance sheet through debt reduction and advancing large-scale opportunity in Suriname.
“During the third quarter, we completed operations on our third successful exploration test in Block 58, Kwaskwasi which is our best well in the basin thus far,” Christmann said on the company’s Q3 earnings call.
Block 58 lies along the Guyana/Suriname border, suggesting it may share similar reservoir qualities as the vast resource footprint ExxonMobil has uncovered in Guyana.
US multinational investment bank and financial services company Morgan Stanley has said its modelling of Block 58 shows that it contains a potential 6.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources which can be developed across seven phases with first oil targeted for 2026.
“We just got to step back and realize just the perspective and just how big Block 58 is and even Block 53. It’s the equivalent to over 250 Gulf of Mexico blocks,” Christmann said, as he pointed to the next well – Bonboni – being targeted on Block 58.
“We’ve said there will be a continuation next year on the exploration pace. And obviously, we’re anxious to start appraising,” he added.
Already, the appraisal programmes for Apache’s first two deepwater discoveries at Block 58, Maka Central-1 and Sapakara West-1, have been submitted to Suriname state oil company Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. Aapache is also working with its partner Total on the appraisal plan for Kwaskwasi, which will be submitted before the end of the year.
