Offshore staff
LONDON – Offshore Suriname could develop into a major oil-producing region following the four commercial discoveries last year in block 58, according to GlobalData.
TotalEnergies/APA awarded a contract last month for preliminary front-end engineering design for a floating production and storage scheme, and are targeting first production potentially by 2025.
Svetlana Doh, upstream oil & gas analyst at GlobalData, said the four wells delivered API oil ranges from 27° to 37°, similar in fluid quality to the lighter oil produced in the Stabroek block off neighboring Guyana, where wells could potentially deliver 11,000 b/d.
Taking Guyana projects as a reference, the consultant expects Suriname projects to achieve a low break-even price of around $40/bbl, higher than in Guyana, where some projects could attain $25/bbl.
But assuming that the development wells off Suriname confirm high productivities of at least 6,000 b/d and the required infrastructure is constructed, the break-even price could be much lower than $40/bbl.
GlobalData anticipates an initial capital investment for an average project in Suriname in the range $6-8 billion for recoverable reserves of around 600 MMbbl.
Doh added: “As for Suriname, the country needs to move quickly to attract as much investment and incentivize more exploration so that potential resources are not stranded, as investors prefer cleaner energy developments and increasingly scrutinize over oil and gas projects.”
07/12/2021
