Suriname Energy Oil & Gas Summit 2021 virtual edition got underway on Tuesday with the South American country’s massive deepwater potential taking centre-stage in a series of presentations and discussions.
The keynote address was delivered by President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, who said the two most important objectives of the summit are to promote entrepreneurship and attract foreign investment.
“And that fits precisely in our policy and in our commitment to further develop our natural energy oil and gas industry for the benefit of the people of Suriname,” he said.
The President said his government is strongly committed to implementing the required policies in order to ensure Suriname reaps the maximum benefits of the oil and gas industry and firmly intends to foster and promote foreign direct investment in the country.
“Our government characterises itself by its values of stability good governance and business friendliness,” Mr. Santokhi said. “Consequently, potential investors can expect improvements in our business climate in terms of ease of doing business, in terms of fair and equal treatment, prosperity, openness and additional fiscal and corporate incentives, which would be included in our upcoming Revised Investment Act.”
Albert R. Ramdin, Suriname’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation, said the oil and gas industry will play a key role in the economic development of the country.
“We stand on the verge of elevating our scope and capabilities in Suriname to the next level. The Suriname-Guyana Basin has strategic assets and from a foreign policy and foreign direct investment perspective, couple of things are important,” Ramdin stated. He pointed out that these are the financial and investment capital flows towards the region and the geo-political interest being shown by major global and regional players, in the basin.
Annand Jagesar, Managing Director/CEO of Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. emphasised that the country is open for business, particularly investments in oil and gas resources both onshore and offshore. He said major hydrocarbon discoveries in Guyana and Suriname have placed the region in the spotlight and highlighted areas offshore the South American country which he said fall within the ‘golden lane’ of these mega discoveries.
“There is huge need in the offshore for goods, services and manpower,” he said, pointing out that those operations are also creating spin-off opportunities for legal and financial services, food and lodging, tourism, regional hospitals, among others.
2020 has been the most successful year to date for offshore exploration in Suriname, particularly at block 58 where Apache and Total have made 4 discoveries. In Block 52, Petronas and ExxonMobil have made their first discovery, making the total oil strikes offshore so far, 5.
The summit is being hosted by Staatsolie and is organised by Energy Advance. It will conclude on Thursday, June 3.
