Suriname Seeks 1.5 Billion Dollars to Fund Oil Project

Suriname’s state oil company needs to find $1.5 billion in funding this year in order to be able to take part in the development of the Gran Morgu deposit, Reuters has reported, noting the project got a final investment decision late last year.

Staatsolie is already talking with banks, the managing director of the company told Reuters, and “They’re very eager to do it.”

The Gran Morgu deposit lies in Block 58—an offshore block explored by TotalEnergies and APA Corp. The French supermajor announced a massive investment plan of $10.5 billion for the block in a perceived bid to repeat Exxon’s success in Suriname’s neighbor Guyana. The oil reserves in the area are estimated at some 750 million barrels, lying in depths between 100 and 1,000 meters. According to Suriname’s state oil company the project could have a productive life of 20 to 25 years.

The total costs of developing the Gran Morgu deposit have been estimated at $12.2 billion, with Staatsolie’s share of this total at $2.4 billion, of which around half needs to be committed this year. First oil from the field is expected in 2028. TotalEnergies has already commissioned the construction of a floating production, storage and offloading vessel for Gran Morgu. The vessel will have a capacity of 200,000 barrels daily, which would make it one of the French company’s biggest, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said last October.

Crude oil discoveries in Suriname have opened access to some 2.4 billion barrels in reserves, Wood Mackenzie analysts have estimated. The consultancy also reported that the South American nation holds some 12.5 trillion cubic feet in natural gas reserves.

A total of nine offshore discoveries have been made in the South American country in the last six years but commercial development of any of them is still in the future.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com