Norway-based subsea service provider, Argeo, has entered into an eight-year agreement for acquisition, processing and sales of multi-client data in Suriname with state oil firm, Staatsolie.
The execution of the agreement will be performed in several phases over the contract period and encompass integrated turnkey data solutions including geophysical, geochemical, and geotechnical products in addition to several new tools.
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The first agreed package and scope of work under the agreement consist of geophysical data acquisition with Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and Uncrewed Surface Vehicle (USV) in strategically selected areas. The first phase of the program will be carried out by Argeo Searcher, already on location/prospect and is expected to last for 60-70 days. The following USV program is estimated to take 120-150 days and will commence early 2025. Argeo Searcher has undergone a short upgrade to enable the vessel to carry out geochemical and geotechnical work with newly commissioned handling systems to be used for future projects.
The agreement kick-starts the development of Argeo Multiclient, hosting the company’s global multi-client library. This is strategically important as it enables a new set of acquisition projects, product innovations, and the global commercial introduction of Argeo Scope.
Suriname’s resource count is at 4.6 billion oil-equivalent barrels as estimated by Wood Mackenzie. A significant portion of this is gas. Alongside Suriname’s touted oil development, a possible gas project has been eyed by Petronas which operates Block 52. Discoveries have been made there, two of which hold the potential to see a 100,000-barrel-per-day development.
Suriname’s neighbor to the west, Guyana, itself a new deepwater oil producer, now has daily output of more than 600,000 b/d. Just this week, Brazil’s energy minister said the country’s oil investments are moving at a phenomenal rate and advocated for Brazil to take its example.
