TotalEnergies’ GranMorgu offshore development in Suriname holds more than 750 million barrels of oil, the company’s Suriname General Manager, Arthur Nunes da Silva, confirmed this week.
He was at the time speaking on a podcast hosted by Brazilian AI company Pix Force on January 20.
Nunes da Silva was discussing TotalEnergies’ push in Suriname’s emerging offshore basin when he described the scale of the development. “We have in hand a development of more than 750 million barrels,” he said.
He said additional seismic work could lift that figure. “With more developed seismic today, we will reach 800 [million barrels],” he said.
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GranMorgu is a TotalEnergies-operated deepwater oil project in Suriname’s offshore Block 58. In its investment announcement in 2023, TotalEnergies said the project will develop the Sapakara and Krabdagu discoveries and that the fields hold recoverable reserves estimated at over 700 million barrels.
Nunes da Silva said the project’s main test goes beyond geology. “I think there is a great challenge [to] the acceptability of these projects in Suriname,” he said. He pointed to Suriname’s environmental profile and public scrutiny. “Suriname is one of the rare countries in the world [that is] carbon negative,” he said.
He observed that, in a small country grappling with economic strain, expectations remain high.“It has gone through a crisis, and therefore our project creates enormous expectations, [for a] very small population,” he said.
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To address concerns, he said TotalEnergies has prioritized outreach. “We have what we call engagement meetings,” he said. “Quarterly, we go all along the coast. We even go sometimes in the interior of the country to explain what we are doing and give people the opportunity to ask their questions and get answers.”
He said those sessions have been welcomed, even when residents disagree. “The fact that we go and ask and are available and ready to have these conversations is important,” he added.
The GranMorgu project is set to create thousands of jobs, including 2,000 direct jobs over its lifetime. The TotalEnergies-led group plans to spend US$1-1.5 billion in Suriname as part of its development program for the project. This will allow Surinamese companies to provide goods and services in aid of the development, boosting the local economy.
RTU
