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“Kwaskwasi was probably the most significant, more ambiguous results.
encountering 278 metres of net oil and vola- “Sticking with the same play in Suriname,
tile oil and gas ... which is the greatest net pay Petronas also tried to extend the play as well at
reported in the basin.” Sloanea, which we understand to have encoun-
Meanwhile, he noted, Malaysia’s Petronas is tered gas, and we’re holding that it’s probably not
also looking at the potential of the Upper Creta- commercial at the moment,” he was quoted as
ceous play at Block 52 offshore Suriname, with saying by OilNOW.gy. ™

SURINAME
Outgoing Staatsolie chief comments

on potential of first three offshore finds

RUDOLF Elias, the outgoing managing direc- producing licence area in Suriname’s offshore
tor of Suriname’s national oil company (NOC) zone. Total and Apache hope to make a final
Staatsolie, has said he expects the first three investment decision (FID) on the development
fields found in the country’s offshore zone to of the block before the end of this year, and
yield at least 1.4bn barrels of oil equivalent (boe). they have already started drawing up plans for
In a farewell letter delivered earlier this extracting oil from the fields they have found
week, Elias said that the discovery of commer- there.
cial crude reserves at Maka Central, Sapakara The partners have indicated that they hope to
and Kwaskwasi at Block 58 by Apache (US) and begin production in 2025, just five years after the
Total (France) had lent extra momentum to first discovery at Maka Central. This would rep-
Suriname’s nascent oil industry in 2020. “These resent a ramp-up that was not only remarkably
discoveries alone are expected to produce about fast but reminiscent of US-based ExxonMobil’s
1.4bn barrels of oil equivalent [in] resources success in bringing Stabroek, a block offshore
over time, and they confirm Suriname as a major the neighbouring country of Guyana, on stream
upcoming hydrocarbon province,” he said. in 2019, just four years after first oil was found at
Additionally, he noted that oil had been the Liza field. ™
discovered elsewhere, at a site assigned to two
other companies. “Further confirmation [of
Suriname’s potential] came in December, with
... partners Petronas and ExxonMobil announc-
ing another hydrocarbon discovery with the
successful drilling of the Sloanea-1 exploration
well in Block 52,” he wrote.
He went on to say that he also expected
2021 to be a fruitful year. Total and Apache
announced their fourth discovery at Block 58,
Keskesi, early this year, he noted.
Elias is due to step down from his post by the
end of May. He will be replaced by Annand Jag-
esar, who has been serving as Staatsolie’s deputy
director for business development.
Block 58 is likely to become the first Four oilfields have been discovered at Block 58 (Image: Total)

BRAZIL
ANP says Brazilian oil output rose in April

BRAZIL’S oil output rose for the second con- country had extracted a total of 2.97mn barrels
secutive month in April, according to new data per day (bpd) of crude oil last month. This was
from the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural up by 4.6% on the March figure of 2.84mn and
Gas and Biofuels (ANP). was also 0.5% higher than the figure posted in
The agency reported earlier this week that the April 2020, it noted.

Week 20 20•May•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13