Durrant Pate/Contributor

Having delayed the billion-dollar final investment decision (FID) for Block 58 offshore Suriname for a year, the country’s oil boom is back on track.

Latest appraisal drilling confirms that Block 58 could contain as much as 6.5 billion barrels of exploitable oil resources, boosting prospects for an oil boom similar to neighboring Guyana, according to oilprice.com. Partners in Block 58, APA Corporation and the initial investor, TotalEnergies say more than 800 million barrels of oil resources have been identified.

APA is also pursuing establishing a liquified natural gas (LNG) platform in offshore Suriname putting the South American state’s oil boom back on track a year’s standstill. The crucial billion-dollar FID delay by TotalEnergies delivered a harsh blow to Suriname in 2022, which was required for developing Block 58 offshore Suriname.

The development of Block 58, after a lengthy delay is back on track with TotalEnergies 50 per cent partner in the block, APA Corporation, consistently reporting solid results for the appraisal wells being drilled at the Sapakara and Krabdagu discoveries.

Latest development results

In the latest development, appraisal drilling at the Krabdagu-3 well confirmed the resource identified by the Krabdagu discovery well extends 14 kilometers to the south. Oilprice.com is reporting that the data gathered from the Krabdagu discovery and appraisal wells is being analysed to determine the size of the petroleum fairway identified, which APA claims is greater than 25 kilometers.

A February 2023 statement by APA indicated that more than 800 million barrels of oil resources have been identified at the Sapakara and Krabdagu discoveries. In APA’s second quarter 2023 results, the company stated an oil hub project for the Sapakara and Krabdagu discoveries is currently being scoped.

As it regards, APA establishing an LNG platform in offshore Suriname, the gas, which will be a byproduct of drilling, will initially be reinjected to enhance oil recovery with a view to exporting LNG in the long-term. For some time, there has been considerable speculation that the prolific petroleum fairway contained in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana extends through the northern segment of the neighboring Corentyne Block into Block 58. 

Latest drilling results

The latest drilling results announced by APA coupled with the Kawa-1 and Wei-1 discoveries made by CGX Energy in the northern section of the Corentyne Block indicate this could very well be the case. If that assumption proves correct, it will support earlier estimates that Block 58 could contain as much as 6.5 billion barrels of exploitable oil resources.

This will make the block an invaluable asset that is capable of supporting an oil boom in Suriname on the scale of that is being enjoyed by Guyana. Suriname, which has a population of less than seven hundred thousand, has pinned its hopes on a massive oil boom to reinvigorate the former Dutch colony’s crisis-prone economy.

It hopes to replicate the tremendous oil boom underway in neighboring Guyana, which is benefiting from a massive petroleum-driven economic windfall that saw the former British colony emerge as the world’s fastest-growing economy.