France’s TotalEnergies is continuing drilling operations offshore Suriname in Block 58 as it tries to develop an oil pool, CEO Patrick Pouyanné said on the company’s first quarter of 2023 webcast.

The last appraisal well in the block is being drilled, but the difficulty in Suriname relates to the oil-to-gas ratio that is quite high, Pouyanné said April 27. The company wants to identify a “low oil-to-gas ratio in order to be able to have an efficient development,” he said.

The Paris-based energy company is active in Block 58 with its joint venture partner APA Corp. TotalEnergies operates and each company holds a 50% interest in the block.

Since February the companies have had ongoing rig activity focused on drilling two appraisal wells — Krabdagu-2 and Krabdagu-3 — at the Krabdagu discovery. Krabdagu is about 17 kilometers (11 miles) east of Sapakara.

“It's a development [in] which we combine two discoveries,” Pouyanné told analysts during the webcast.

“The first appraisal well for these two discoveries [has] been positive. So today, it's a pool of around 500-plus million barrel[s] of oil. We are waiting for the last oil well in order to reach 650 peak,” Pouyanné said in a response to a question about Suriname. “And then it will be time to go to development. …After these appraisal wells we'll have a good vision in order to move forward to the next step.”

Pouyanné said 2023 would be a very important year for TotalEnergies in Suriname as well as Namibia in Africa as “it will be a next wave of final investment decision [FID] — going to FID for growing oil business … in the future years,” he said.

For its part, APA quoted a higher Suriname oil pool in a statement on its website on February 22.

“During 2022, we established more than 800 million barrels of combined estimated oil resource in place, following three successful flow tests at Sapakara and Krabdagu,” APA said. “These validate our geologic, geophysical and reservoir models in the upper cretaceous age section of the central portion of Block 58, where we are further appraising Krabdagu with two rigs.”

Suriname’s vertically integrated state-owned company Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. expects a FID regarding offshore Block 58 sometime in 2024, a company executive told Hart Energy at a conference in April in Mexico City.

RELATED: Suriname’s Staatsolie Hopeful of APA, TotalEnergies Offshore 2024 FID

Lower Commodity Prices Weigh in on 1Q:23 Financial Results

TotalEnergies reported adjusted net income of $6.5 billion in the first quarter of 2023, down 27% compared to $9 billion in the first quarter of 2022, according to its earnings report. Over the same period, cash flow from operations was $5.1 billion — down 33% compared to $7.6 billion.

First-quarter 2023 financial results compared to the same year ago quarter were impacted by lower commodity prices.  Brent averaged $81.20/bbl compared to $102.2/bbl in first-quarter 2022. Henry Hub prices averaged $2.70/MMbtu versus $4.60/MMbtu.

In terms of liquefied natural gas prices, both the NBP and JKM benchmarks were down 50% and 47% year-over-year. Operationally, TotalEnergies expects to benefit from the restart of Freeport LNG which will impact the company’s LNG sales in the second quarter of 2023, it said in its report.

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