Suriname, Guyana moving towards joint exploitation of gas reserves

Suriname and Guyana have taken the first step towards achieving the joint exploitation of gas reserves off the coast of the two neighbouring Caricom countries.

“It won’t happen tomorrow, but it is important that we now have confirmation from both sides that we want to work together. It could take years before we have found a development concept,” Staatsolie Director Annand Jagesar told the de Ware Tijd newspaper.

Jagesar was in Guyana as part of a Suriname delegation that included Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation Minister, Albert Ramdin, who met with Guyana’s Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo.

Jagesar told the newspaper that the two countries will jointly examine a development concept to make exploitation of certain reservoirs of gas condensates feasible.

He said this concerns the Makka and Kwaskwasi discoveries in Suriname, close to the border with Guyana, and the Haimara and Pluma discoveries in Guyana, which is also close to the border.

“The biggest asset of a collaboration is scale. By merging, the scale could be achieved. But many other issues will also have to be investigated,” Jagesar said.

Immediately after Staatsolie, TotalEnergies and Apache Corporation announced on October 1 that the final investment decision for the production of oil reserves in Suriname’s Block 58 had been taken, Jagdeo contacted the Surinamese government, requesting that discussions be held soon about jointly exploiting the gas reserves of the two neighbouring countries.

Ramdin said the two countries are already exchanging information at the technical and business level in order to assess the potential areas of cooperation.

“In any case, this will have a high priority in the coming two to three months, and the intention of this conversation was to clearly agree at government level that this must be part of the strategic cooperation in oil and gas between Suriname and Guyana,” he said.

Meanwhile, Staatsolie is moving towards a decision regarding Block 52, where Malaysian Petronas has discovered recoverable oil reserves.

There are reports that Malaysian Petronas has found an amount equal to more than 400 million barrels of oil there, allowing for a project that would utilise 100,000 barrels of oil daily.

Staatsolie began discussions with Petronas last week to get the project off the ground, and a final investment decision could be announced in 2027, with oil production likely in Block 52 by 2030, said Staatsolie Director Annand Jagesar.

He said that with technical adjustments, Petronas could potentially use a floating production, storage, and offloading unit they already have for the intended project. This would allow production to start sooner.

Large quantities of natural gas have also been found in Block 52. Staatsolie and Petronas are also negotiating about this, with the aim of getting the first gas development off the ground by 2031.

CMC