Block 58 operator TotalEnergies does not see a feasible development from its Maka and Kwaskwasi discoveries, according to the Managing Director of Suriname’s state oil firm Staatsolie.
Annand Jagesar told Reuters late Tuesday that instead, the company has been pushing for Total to perhaps join forces with ExxonMobil – the operator of Guyana’s Stabroek Block – for cross-border gas development.
“We’ve been talking to Total. They don’t see an opportunity to make a feasible project as of yet from Maka and Kwaskwasi… Joining the Guyana and Suriname explorations, our projects, we can make that scale”, Jagesar told Reuters.
Maka Central-1 successfully tested for hydrocarbons in multiple stacked targets in the upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals and encountered both oil and gas condensate. The well was spudded using the drillship Noble Sam Croft with Apache Corporation holding a 50% working interest and Total holding a 50% working interest. Kwaskwasi-1 was drilled to a depth of approximately 6,645 meters (21,800 feet) and successfully tested for hydrocarbons in multiple stacked targets in the upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals.
Cross-border development is a possibility between Guyana and Suriname. In fact, Guyana’s Gas Strategy will make provisions for this.
Exxon has made a significant gas discovery of 17 trillion cubic feet in the Stabroek Block, constituting approximately a quarter of the 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent reserves. A substantial portion of this find lies in the southeastern area of the block, close to the Suriname border, with Pluma and Haimara identified as the gas fields. Similarly, Suriname’s Block 58 has also revealed substantial gas reserves. Guyana is pursuing a massive Gas-to-Energy project to utilize 50 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. And there will still be a lot more gas remaining.
Joint development arrangements can pose challenges, particularly when reservoirs span multiple jurisdictions. Guyana’s updated petroleum agreements now include a unitisation clause, though it is not currently applicable to Exxon’s Stabroek Block agreement. However, unitization is also provided for in the newly legislated Petroleum Activities Act.
