Petronas and ExxonMobil Discovered an Oil Field Offshore Suriname
Petronas Surinam E&P (a subsidiary of the Malaysian energy giant Petronas), and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Surinam (a subsidiary of the American ExxonMobil), have explored new oil deposits on the continental shelf of Suriname.
This was reported by the Petronas press service.
Exploration well Roystonea-1
located in block 52, approximately 185 km from the coast at a depth of 904 m;
was drilled to a depth of 5315 m below sea level;
MP – semi-submersible floating drilling rig (SSDR) Noble Discoverer, which was awarded a contract by Petronas Surinam E & P for $43 million in July 2023;
oil was explored in the Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous of the Mesozoic;
the volume of recoverable reserves has yet to be estimated;
Potential synergies with the Sloanea-1 field, discovered in 2020 within the same block, will also be assessed.
Block 52
located within the Guyana-Suriname Basin, approximately 75 miles offshore north of the capital of Suriname, Paramaribo;
area – 4749 km2;
the water depth in the subsoil area ranges from 50 to 1100 m;
Petronas Surinam E&P is the operator with a 50% participation interest;
ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Surinam owns the remaining 50%.
Petronas Surinam E&P also operates Block 48 with a 100% interest and is a 30% partner in the neighboring Block 53, where the Baja-1 field was discovered in 2022.
As a reminder, most of Guyana’s discoveries have been made in the prolific Stabroek block, operated by a consortium led by ExxonMobil.
Oil production at the block began in 2019.
Stabroek is considered to be the world’s 2nd largest area of untapped oil reserves.
It is expected that by 2027, the block with an area of 26 thousand km2 will produce up to 1.2 million barrels per day of oil and gas.
On October 29, 2023, the results of drilling the Lancetfish-2 appraisal well on the Stabroek block became known.
The deposit will undergo a comprehensive appraisal process, which is said to be consistent with ongoing appraisal work on other discoveries in the region.
Currently, the total number of discoveries offshore Guyana has reached 46, including those made in 2023 – Fangtooth SE-1 and Lancetfish-1 in the Stabroek block, as well as Wei-1 in the Corentyne block.
Suriname allocates offshore areas for exploration to companies such as TotalEnergies, APA, Shell, Petronas, Chevron and Exxon.
