Equinor and ExxonMobil Corp said on Wednesday they have transferred their stakes in a deepwater oil and gas exploration block off Suriname to Hess Corp, with the Norwegian oil producer exiting the South American country.
The exit aligns with Equinor's strategy to focus on producing oil and gas in a few core areas, such as Norway, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, while boosting investments in renewable and low-carbon energy globally.
"We have decided to withdraw from the deepwater Block 59 exploration license in Suriname and we don't intend to seek further exploration opportunities in the country," a company spokesperson said in an email.
ExxonMobil, which led the consortium, transferred operation of the block to Hess in a nonfinancial transaction, and continues its presence in Suriname with Block 52.
"We fulfilled all our work commitments for the block and continue to progress the evaluation of our Suriname exploration acreage," a spokesperson said.
Hess now owns 100% of the license. No money changed hands between the companies, Equinor said.
Over the last six years, Equinor exited about 20 countries, such as South Africa, Mexico, Turkey and Nicaragua. In most of the countries, its activities were limited to oil and gas exploration.
It left Russia over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and last year decided to sell its producing assets in Nigeria and Azerbaijan.
When the latest deals are completed, Equinor will have petroleum production or exploration in fewer than 10 countries outside of Norway.
Its moves mark a sharp reversal from the international expansion push launched by its former chief executive Helge Lund, now chair of BP BP.L, after partial privatisation of Equinor, previously known as Statoil, in 2001.
In 2023, Equinor produced 34% of its total oil and gas output outside of Norway, with the United States accounting for more than half of its international output, followed by Angola, Brazil and Algeria.
Despite geographical shrinkage, Equinor told investors in February it aimed to increase international output by 15% between 2024 and 2030 to 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mainly from new fields in Brazil, the U.S. and Britain.
Equinor also entered a number of new countries, including Japan, looking for opportunities in renewable energy, such as offshore wind.
(Reuters - Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Sabrina Valle; Editing by Terje Solsvik, Rod Nickel and Matthew Lewis)