The nation of Suriname, armed with more information than ever before and more operators doing active work, is looking for bidders to help find some of the estimated 15 billion boe in place, consisting of 8.3 billion bbl of oil and 23 Tcf of gas.
All that potential isn't on the blocks in the 2006 licensing round, but it does have three offshore blocks - 15, 36 and 37 - on the line near the French Guyana border, and it wants partners in production-sharing agreements, according to Marny Daal-Vogelland, manager of exploration and production contracts.
It opened the round in January with final bids and will qualify potential bidders until the July 2 closing date for bids. That qualification consists mainly of proof of financial and technical capability to develop the sites. Staatsolie, the state oil company, will evaluate bids during July, invite potential winners to negotiate on Aug. 2 and sign production-sharing contracts in the fourth quarter this year. Information is available through the Web site at www.staatsolie.com.
Data packages are available for US $25,000 with 15,836 miles (25,500 km) of 2-D seismic, gravity and magnetics data, and control information on 22 wells. Water depths in the tracts range from 66 ft to 1,148 ft (20 m to 350 m).
In addition to the two onshore fields operated by Staatsolie, three companies are entrenched in offshore tracts. Occidental has Block 32, the block farthest offshore. Maersk oil has Block 31, close to shore and adjoining blocks 15 and 37; and a consortium of Repsol YPF, Occidental and Noble Energy have Block 30, between blocks 31 and 32.
Staatsolie signed the contracts with Repsol YPF on Block 30 and with Maersk in Block 31 in 2004 and signed the Block 32 contract last December.
The consortium conducted the largest 3-D survey ever contracted in the country over Block 30 late in 2005, and Oxy recently completed 2,360 miles (3,800 km) of 2-D seismic. Staatsolie acquired 2,174 miles (3,500 km) of 2-D seismic, including new surveys over the three blocks on offer.
Under Suriname law, Staatsolie owns the mining rights, but the contractors will get exclusive rights to produce and sell product from their contract areas. Staatsolie will take a 6.25% royalty. The law guarantees tax stability under terms in the contract, Daal-Vogelland said.
A US Geological Survey analysis rates the Suriname-Guyana Basin as the second-best prospective under-explored basin in the world, based only on Upper Cretaceous source rocks. The basin also has potential source rock in Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic zones.
The Lower Cretaceous source rock is inferred from seismic reflection and hydrocarbon indicators, but the Jurassic petroleum system was proved with the discovery of Jurassic biomarkers in a Cretaceous oil discovery east of the onshore Tambaredjo field. Staatsolie also has identified Jurassic biomarkers in Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary oils in the Weg Naar Zee block east of Tambaredjo.
The basin is a pull-apart basin extending from the southern Venezuela border to French Guyana at the Guiana Shield. Before the pull-apart, Suriname was connected to Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau in Africa in the early Jurassic to early Cretaceous period.
One play in the three offered blocks is a syn-rift play with truncated traps against neocomanian calcerous shales. That play could be sourced from Lower Cretaceous and Jurassic rock.

Comments