Covering an area 1.2 million acres (4,749 square kilometers), Block 52 is located approximately 75 miles offshore north of Suriname’s capital city, Paramaribo, and represents the first discovery ever made by U.S. oil major ExxonMobil, offshore the South American country.
ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V., an affiliate of ExxonMobil, holds 50 percent interest in Block 52. PETRONAS Suriname E&P B.V., a subsidiary of PETRONAS, is operator and holds 50 percent interest.
The Sloanea-1 exploration well, also the first discovery in Suriname for PETRONAS, was successfully drilled to a total depth of 4,780 metres using the Maersk Developer rig, the partners said on Friday. The well encountered several hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone packages with good reservoir qualities in the Campanian section.
“Our first discovery in Suriname extends ExxonMobil’s leading position in South America, building on our successful investments in Guyana,” said Mike Cousins, Senior Vice President of Exploration and New Ventures at ExxonMobil. He said the company will continue to leverage its deepwater expertise and advanced technology to explore frontier environments with the highest value resource potential.
This approach has paid off significantly in neighbouring Guyana where ExxonMobil has made 18 discoveries since 2015 at the prolific Stabroek block. Gross recoverable resources are estimated to be approximately 9 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
ExxonMobil will be looking to replicate the unprecedented success it has had in Guyana as data from Sloanea-1 is evaluated and other targets are identified on Block 52. Already, the well data proves excellent calibration of the hydrocarbon potential of the block, the partners have said. Further evaluation is being undertaken to determine the full extent of the discovery.
