As Patrick Brunings – Exploration Manager at Staatsolie – presented about Suriname’s offshore hydrocarbon potential during the AAPG ICE Conference in Madrid this afternoon, his phone went off. The audience was a little surprised – most people mute their phones for these occasions these days. And it got even worse. Patrick answered the phone, in front of a sizeable crowd.
Then, it became clear that the “phone call” was timed well. It was Patrick’s manager giving the green light to announce the Shallow Water Bid Round (SHO2), comprising 11 blocks in Suriname offshore. The crowd applauded.
Following the success of exploration in Suriname’s deep water and TotalEnergies’ recent announcement to continue planning for the development of the Sapakara South and Krabdagu discoveries, attention is now shifting back to shallow waters with 11 blocks opened for bids.
Staatsolie prepared for the bid round by conducting a petroleum migration and source maturation study over the past 24 months – led by Eshita Narain. The results of the study suggest that in addition to an Albian and Cenomanian/Turonian source rock, which has primarily sourced the deep water discoveries, a deeper Aptian mature source rock is likely to be present across a wider area of the shelf, including the shallow parts. This source rock is thought to have been capable of charging the 90+ mapped prospects and leads in the area., potentially containing more than 90 billion barrels in place.
For more information, see the Staatsolie and Envoi websites.
