Page 11 - LatAmOil Week 12 2020

LatAmOil SURINAME LatAmOil
 “Assuming there will be similar development and operating costs to Liza Phase 1, to break even from the estimated total costs of $7.2bn, Maka Central will need minimum recover- able resources of 213mn barrels of oil equiv- alent [boe] at oil prices of $56 per barrel,” he commented.
He added that he did expect the field to meet expectations with respect to reserves. “Maka Central reservoirs are located at the same level as the nearby Stabroek play – around 400 feet [122 metres] – so it is reasonable to assume a potential of 300mn barrels of gross recoverable oil,” he said.
Bosunga also indicated that GlobalData was assuming that Apache and its partner Total took certain steps to contain costs. “Due to a lack of onshore processing and export infrastructure in the Guyana-Suriname Basin, development through a floating production storage and off-loading (FPSO) unit will be the optimal option,” he said.
The analyst went on to say that he was opti- mistic about the project’s future, and thus Suri- name’s ability to turn its hydrocarbon resources into a source of revenue. “It is far too early to know whether this new discovery by Apache and Total might eventually bring a similar positive financial impact for Suriname as the Stabroek block is expected to do for Guyana,”
BRAZIL
he said. “Nonetheless, the initial indicators are encouraging, and it is worth noticing that Apache has the ability to retain the entirety of Block 58 with no relinquishment requirements until June of 2026.”
Block 58 covers an area of 1.4mn acres (5,670 square km) offshore Suriname. It includes seven distinct types of plays and more than 50 pros- pects. Equity in the project is split 50:50 between Apache and Total, with the US company serving as operator. The partners drilled the Maka Cen- tral-1 well in 1,000-metre-deep water. ™
The star marks the location of the Maka-Central-1 well (Image: Apache)
Low oil prices could cut exploration budgets in Brazil
ANALYSTS have warned that the drastic slide in crude oil prices could force Brazil’s national oil company (NOC) Petrobras and its foreign part- ners to scale back their oil and gas exploration programmes.
Recent market fluctuations could lead inves- tors to cut the company’s exploration budget by $300-600mn, specialists at Wood Mackenzie told Reuters.
“I think everyone ... is evaluating what they can do to save money,” said Marcelo de Assis, the consultancy’s top upstream researcher for Latin America.
The effect of these cuts will not affect all investors equally. Wood Mackenzie noted that the US super-major ExxonMobil and French oil major Total might have an easier time post- poning their plans, since they were still await- ing exploration licences. By contrast, Norway’s Equinor is likely to continue developing Bacal- hau, its pre-salt discovery in the Santos Basin, Wood Mackenzie added.
Bacalhau, previously known as Carcara,
was discovered in 2012. Equinor acquired the site from Petrobras in 2016 and has already declared it to be commercially viable.
Earlier this month, before oil prices col- lapsed, Wood Mackenzie forecast that Brazilian exploration projects would draw around $3bn worth of investment this year.
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