Map showing the location of the Petronas Sloanea-1 well, Suriname. © NVentures.Petronas, with new farminee ExxonMobil, have now spud Sloanea-1 on Suriname Block 52, along trend and 60 km south-east of Kwaskwasi in Block 58. Sloanea will help define or extend this 9 Bbo Cretaceous stratigraphic trap fairway, established by ExxonMobil in Guyana (Liza 1, 2015) and extended by Apache in Suriname, which is already over 210 km long. Nearby on Block 58 Apache has submitted appraisal plans for its first two discoveries and will submit for the third before the year end. Sloanea-1 spudded in October 2020, targeting Upper Cretaceous clastics in a slope/channel complex. Drilling is expected to last 2–3 months using the Maersk Developer semi-sub in ~1,000m water depth. Prognosed TD could be 6,500m or deeper (following the discoveries on Block 58), adding to the challenge here. Keskesi East on Block 58 is being sidetracked in November, with the operator citing hole stability problems.
The operatorship shifts to Total in 2021 and plans call for two drillships under long-term contract for exploration, appraisal and development on Block 58. Their next wildcat will be Bonboni-1, in the north-central area of Block 58. The Kaieteur Block in Guyana, north of the Liza trend, is operated by ExxonMobil and brings a new non-operating partner to the fray, Ratio Petroleum, who released a Netherland Sewell 3D seismic-supported competent persons report touting a low-best-high prospective recoverable resource estimate range of 156-256-452 MMbo, excluding gas, for Tanager. Geologic POS ranged from 0.72 on Tanager to a low of 0.25, with a mean around 0.40. Resource estimates were aggregated from the reservoir level.
