Petronas, Staatsolie sign up to deepwater block offshore Suriname
Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname signed a production sharing contract (PSC) on June 17 for deepwater Block 66 offshore Suriname with PETRONAS Suriname E&P B.V. and Paradise Oil Co.
Petronas will operate with 80%. Paradise Oil Co., a subsidiary of Staatsolie, has the remaining 20%.
The partners have committed to drilling two exploration wells in more prospective parts of the block during the first phase of the exploration period.
Block 66 covers a 3,390-sq-km area over water depths ranging from 1,000 m to 2,200 m. The location is in the western part of the Suriname-Guyana Basin.
Following the signing of the PSC, about 50% of Suriname's offshore area is now under contract, Staatsolie added.
TotalEnergies has just agreed to acquire a 25% interest held by Moeve (ex-CEPSA) in Block 53, where APA operates with a 45% interest. Petronas is the other partner with 30%.
Block 53 is directly east of Block 58, where TotalEnergies as operator and APA took FID last Ocotber on the deepwater GranMorgu development. Block 53 contains the Baja-1 discovery, drilled close to the border with Block 58.
“This acquisition brings new resources to the development of our low-cost and low-emission GranMorgu project," said Javier Rielo, TotalEnergies' senior vice president of Americas, Exploration & Production. “It also proves how TotalEnergies will leverage GranMorgu infrastructure to develop profitably additional resources and extend its production plateau, strengthening the position of the company in the offshore of Suriname.”
Staatsolie retains back-in rights to Block 53.
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