ExxonMobil farms into Petronas’ block offshore Suriname

Malaysian energy giant Petronas has completed the farm-down of 50 per cent of its participating interest in its fully-owned Block 52 offshore Suriname to ExxonMobil.

Block 52 is located north of the coast of Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital city, and is situated in the prospective Suriname-Guyana basin where several major hydrocarbon discoveries were made recently.

Block 52 covers an area of 4,749 square kilometres with water depths ranging from 50 to 1,100 metres.

Subsequent to the farm-down, Petronas’ subsidiary, Petronas Suriname Exploration & Production B.V. (PSEPBV), as the operator of Block 52 will hold a 50 per cent equity, while ExxonMobil will hold the remaining 50 per cent.

Petronas’ vice president of exploration Emeliana Rice-Oxley said: “Our upcoming exploration activities for Block 52 will involve the drilling of a well in Q3 2020, in addition to acquiring new 3D seismic data utilising the latest technology, covering the whole block to further evaluate the block’s upside potential.

“We look forward to this partnership with ExxonMobil and are determined to continue with the success story on hydrocarbon discoveries in the basin”.

In 2016, Petronas drilled the Roselle-1 well in Block 52 which provided crucial subsurface information and data on the petroleum system of the area.

Subsequent detailed analysis carried out by the company showed that Block 52 contains multiple geological play types and is within the favourable fairway for hydrocarbon generation and accumulation.

According to the company, the recent oil discoveries in an adjacent block further support this assessment.

In addition to Block 52, Petronas’ Suriname subsidiary also holds a 100 per cent participating interest and operatorship in Block 48, and a 30 per cent non-operated participating interest in Block 53.