Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 42 2021

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Going forward, TotalEnergies and other oper- the countries” to find a solution for the gas, he
ators should work to determine the size of gas added.
reserves within the Guyana-Suriname basin Block 58 covers about 1.4mn acres (5,670
and then look into possible regional solutions, square km) within Suriname’s offshore zone.
he said. TotalEnergies has already made five finds within
“We must continue to appraise [and] to the licence area – Maka Central-1, Sapakara
explore. We still have very interesting targets West-1, Kwaskwasi-1, Keskesi-1 and Sapakara
on both sides, and I hope at the end of 2022 South-1. Equity in the project is split 50:50
we’ll have made a large inventory of all these between TotalEnergies and Apache, and the
resources and then we’ll be able to engage with French major is serving as operator. ™

Chevron, Staatsolie sign PSC for Block 5

STAATSOLIE, the national oil company (NOC) partners to collect 3-D seismic data from their
of Suriname, revealed on October 13 that it had licence areas during the first phase of explora-
struck an agreement with Chevron (US) for tion, before moving on to exploration drilling
Block 5, one of the eight blocks included in in the second phase.
the country’s Shallow Offshore (SHO) bidding The NOC opened the SHO bidding con-
round. test in November 2020 and stopped accepting
In a press release, Staatsolie said that a Chev- offers on April 30 of this year. It named Chevron
ron subsidiary, Chevron Exploration Suriname, Exploration Suriname as the winner of Block 5
had signed a production-sharing contract (PSC) in June of this year.
for the offshore block. The licence area is in the Staatsolie received a total of 10 bids for three
western part of the shallow-water bidding area, of the eight blocks included in the SHO licens-
to the south of Block 58, where TotalEnergies ing round. All three of the sites that drew bids lie
(France) and its US-based partner Apache have directly within the migration pathway between
made several commercial discoveries of oil. Suriname’s onshore oilfields, which are currently
Equity in the project will be split 60% to the country’s only domestic source of crude, and
Chevron Exploration Suriname and 40% to the deepwater resources discovered offshore at
Staatsolie, the press release said. “We also have Block 58.
the right to 40% participation,” the NOC said. Both the onshore and offshore fields have
“For the first time in the history of Staatsolie, been typed to the Albian, Cenomanian and
from the moment of signing the PSC, we have Turonian (ACT) source kitchen.
been participating 40% as a partner in offshore To date, six discoveries have been made
activities.” offshore Suriname. They are Maka Central,
According to previous reports, Staatsolie is Sapakara, Kwaskwasi, Keskesi and Sapakara
entitled to a stake of at least 20% in each of the South at Block 58, operated by TotalEnergies,
blocks covered by the shallow-water auctions. and Sloanea at Block 52, operated by Petronas
The company has said it will require all of its (Malaysia). ™

State-owned Staatsolie will retain a 40% stake in Block 5 (Image: Staatsolie)

Week 42 21•October•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9