Suriname’s first offshore oil discovery was made in 2020 at the Maka Central-1 well in Block 58. Since then, more than eight discoveries have been made in several blocks. The Suriname basin is estimated to hold over 30 billion unproven barrels, its state oil company, Staatsolie has estimated. The company has been readying the country for offshore oil development. Let’s take a look at the progress made in 2023.
Offshore contracts awarded:
Aiming to have as much of its offshore area under contract, Staatsolie signed production sharing contracts (PSCs) for Block 6 and Block 8 with TotalEnergies Suriname and QatarEnergy on May 28. Then on December 15, it awarded PSCs for three deepwater blocks: 63, 64, and 65 from the Demerara Bid Round. Block 63 was awarded to PETRONAS, Block 64 was awarded to a TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy and PETRONAS consortium and Block 65 was awarded to BG International – a Shell subsidiary and QatarEnergy.
Block 58’s first development announced:
Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TotalEnergies, visited Suriname on September 13 to announce the preliminary design of the first production field in Block 58. Total, as operator, leads the project alongside APA Corporation, its 50% partner. Together, they drilled 14 wells in this block, according to Staatsolie. Estimated to cost US$9 billion, the project will develop approximately 700 million barrels from the Sapakara South and Krabdagu reservoirs. Both lie in water depths of between 100 to 1,000 metres. A floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel with the capacity to produce 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) will be utilized, connected to subsea wells. Development studies have been launched for the project.
TotalEnergies’ expansion bolsters Suriname’s offshore oil prospects | OilNOW
PETRONAS mulling Block 52 development:
A development at Block 52 around the Roystonea-1 well discovery could be possible. PETRONAS Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adnan Zainal Abidin visited in November and disclosed that the company is contemplating conducting at least two additional drillings this year to amass more comprehensive data for its field plans. On November 2, Petronas announced an oil discovery at the Roystonea-1 exploration well. Further evaluation is being undertaken to determine the full extent of the discovery and its potential development synergy with the Sloanea-1 discovery made in 2020 within the same block. Staatsolie had deemed Sloanea-1 as having “promising” potential to become a natural gas development.
Local Content strides:
In the field of Local Content, Staatsolie launched the BlueWave Supplier Development program in collaboration with ExxonMobil and Chevron. The program aims to take the business operations of local companies to a higher level so that they have greater opportunities to supply goods and services to the offshore sector. According to Staatsolie, 25 companies participated in the first tranche while the second will begin in the first quarter of 2024.
