Suriname’s Staatsolie inks 30-year PSC with Chevron

Suriname’s national oil company Staatsolie has signed a 30-year production sharing contract (PSC) with oil major Chevron for Block 5 located offshore Suriname.

Staatsolie shared the update on Wednesday, saying that it was giving Chevron exploration, development, and production rights by entering into this PSC. Block 5 is located in the shallow offshore area and has a size of 2,235 km2. Staatsolie has the right to opt for a 40 per cent participation in the block during the development phase.

The 30-year contract was signed by Staatsolie’s Managing Director, Annand Jagesar, Onshore Upstream Director Rekha Bissumbhar, and Chevron’s Chris Steele, GM Emerging Countries.

Chevron agreed to pay a signing bonus of $30.88 million and is expected to cover the block’s exploration costs in the first phase that will last six years, divided into three two-year phases. Under the PSC, Chevron should give preference to materials, services, and products offered by Surinamese companies under the condition that they meet the quality, price, and other commercial requirements.

Chevron and a consortium between TotalEnergies and Qatar Petroleum, now QatarEnergy, in June 2021 submitted winning bids for the relevant blocks offered in the Suriname Shallow Offshore (SHO) Bid Round 2020/​2021 which closed for bidding on 30 April.

Chevron filed the most favourable bid for Block 5 and the TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy joint venture gave the best offers for Block 6 and Block 8.

The obligation for the winning firms would be to carry out new 3D seismic data surveys in the first exploration phase with a drill-or-drop decision before drilling in subsequent phases.