Starr Spencer, Platts S&P Global

PANAMARIBO
EnergiesNet.com 12 20 2024

Shell said it has applied for permitting approval from Suriname’s environmental authorities to drill up to four deepwater exploration wells at offshore Block 65, as a marine vessel separately mobilizes to shoot seismic for Malaysia’s Petronas, sources said this week.

Shell will reportedly drill the first of the four wells, to be named Araku Deep-1, in second-quarter 2025, S&P Global Commodity Insights reported earlier Dec. 18. Block 65 is sited in water depths of roughly 3,150 feet,

Shell was awarded Block 65 in late 2023, in consortium with Qatar during Suriname’s Demerara licensing round for offshore oil and gas acreage, with the Dutch major as the designated operator, Shell told Commodity Insights Dec. 18 in a statement.

Besides Block 65, Shell also holds interest in Block 42, which is sited directly north of oil-rich Block 58 – where operator TotalEnergies and US-based partner APA Corp have have sanctioned Suriname’s first offshore oil project named GranMorgu.

Block 58 also is adjacent to neighboring Guyana’s prolific Stabroek Block to the west, where three oil developments are producing more than 600,000 b/d of crude. Stabroek partners ExxonMobil, Hess and CNOOC have sanctioned three additional oil developments and operator ExxonMobil recently announced still two other oil projects are in the works.

Mobilizing for 150-day seismic survey

Meanwhile, Commodity Insights also reported Dec. 18 that the Amazon Warrior survey vessel, owned by Norwegian marine geosciences company Shearwater, is mobilizing for a 150-day, 6,042 sq km 3D survey for Petronas over still another Suriname tract, Block 63, and extending into neighboring Block 52, offshore Suriname Basin.

Block 63 is immediately southeast of Shell’s Block 42.

Shell and Petronas’ respective plans and projects follow the long-awaited investment decision in October of TotalEnergies and APA Corp. to develop two large crude oil discoveries in the small South American country.

Their $10.5 billion project, named GranMorgu, will develop 750 million barrels from the Sapakara and Krabdagu oil discoveries, 150 kilometers off Suriname’s coast. The two oil fields are in water depths ranging from 325 to 3,250 feet deep. First oil from the project is targeted for 2028.

In early November, the GranMorgu partners awarded Saipem a $1.9 billion contract for the project’s subsea development. Also, SBM Offshore was awarded a contract for construction and installation of GranMorgu’s floating production, storage and offshore vessel, whose capacity is targeted at 220,000 b/d.

Petronas mulls Sloanea gas field development

In addition to Suriname’s potential oil developments, Petronas is also considering plans to develop the Sloanea gas field in the country’s Block 52, through a floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility, Commodity Insights said in a Dec. 5 report on the country’s oil and gas risk.

Petronas operates Block 52 in a 50-50 partnership with ExxonMobil. Block 52 is immediately to the east of Block 58 where TotalEnergies/APA Corp. are developing GranMorgu.

“The Sloanea field is economically and strategically important for Suriname, as it would be the country’s first stand-alone gas project and would hold the potential to generate critical export earnings,” the report said. “To increase the viability of Sloanea, national oil company Staatsolie announced in March 2024 that it had signed a letter of agreement with Petronas that includes a 10-year tax-free period from production start-up.”

However, the report cautioned that Suriname’s path to developing large-scale offshore oil and gas production will depend partly on the outcome of the May 2025 general election, in which President Chandrikapersad Santokhi is seeking a second five-year term.

spglobal.com 12 17 2024