Staatsolie, Suriname’s state-oil company, is offering three deepwater blocks through a competitive bid round.
The blocks for bid include offshore blocks 58, 59 and 60, which lie east of Suriname in the Suriname-Guyana basin.
The Suriname-Guyana basin is a sedimentary basin that encompasses the coastal area of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and the eastern part of Venezuela.
Block 58 is 5844 sq km and lies in 55 to 250m of water. Block 59 is 9800sq km and lies in 25 to 50 m of water. The largest block, Block 60, is 10,105sq km and lies in 15 to 55m of water.
Twenty-five wells have been drilled in offshore Suriname to date, (see map at right).
According to Staatsolie, 22 offshore wells provide a reasonable data set to evaluate the stratigraphy younger than the Jurassic. Cenomanian-Turonian marine source rock deposited over large parts of the basin, overlies the Aptian/Albian unconformity. Staatsolie says the extensive Canje source rock has a documented gross thickness of 50 to 500m and total organic carbon content of up to 16%.
Other characteristics include total organic carbon is 4 to 7% in shelf breaking setting, up to 30% in deepwater setting. Maturity models show the onset of maturity as early as 40 millions of years (Ma) in the east to 45 Ma in the west. The migration distance, mainly south-southeast is through Cretaceous and Early Tertiary channels with a migration distance of up to 100-150 km.
Staatsolie says commercial production is for the time being only in the onshore Tambaredjo, Calcutta and Tambaredjo Northwest fields in Suriname, with an original stock tank oil initially in place of 1 billion bbls. These fields are currently producing approximately16,000bbl/d.
Staatsolie has been the sole operator of these fields for the past 30 years.
The 150,000sq km acreage offshore Suriname is divided into blocks which are offered in the bid. Staatsolie says they are looking for international oil companies that are ready and willing to commit capital and expertise to a rapid exploration and development effort. Currently active operators are Inpex, Murphy, Tullow Oil, Kosmos, Petronas and Apache.
Successful bids are expected to be announced 15 March 2015.
Images from Staatsolie
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