TotalEnergies converted the test into the new South American Eldorado. The French oil giant announced this Tuesday 1is October, production from two oil fields off the coast of Suriname. The total investment of the project is expected to reach 10.5 billion dollars (9.5 billion euros). The total reserve of the two offshore sites is estimated at 750 million barrels.
The project notably includes a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit with a capacity of 220,000 barrels per day. In total, 2,000 direct jobs should be created in the former Dutch colony of 600,000 inhabitants, according to the energy company.
This announcement comes after the discovery of hydrocarbons on five exploration wells in the area, drilled at a water depth of between 700 and 1000 meters, between 2020 and 2022. These wells had been drilled by the joint venture formed by TotalEnergies and the American Apache Corporation, which each share half of the concession. The local oil company Staatsolie has announced that it wishes to activate an option to also enter into the production of the site with a participation of up to 20% of the project.
The race for oil in Suriname and Guyana
These two exploitation wells would constitute Suriname’s first offshore oil production – and therefore TotalEnergies’ first steps in this country. The French oil company owns three other offshore blocks, currently in the exploration phase.
The Surinamese production zone – “offshore block 58” – runs along Guyana’s maritime border. The American company ExxonMobil already has the lion’s share in this country, with the exploitation of six oil fields. TotalEnergies has interests in two fields which are still in the exploration phase.
The two South American states have gigantic offshore oil reserves, recently discovered. In Guyana, one of the poorest countries in South America, oil exploitation began in 2019, after the discovery, four years earlier, of a first deposit off its coast. Suriname is also banking on oil to breathe life into its economy, weighed down by galloping inflation and a large external debt.
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