It was reported in early February 2020, that Staatsolie is likely to carve out and offer stakes in its shallow water "Staatsolie Study Area" in H2 2020. Staatsolie CEO , Rudolf Elias, revealed, "we want to put it on the market somewhere in the second half of 2020". He also added that the state-owned company will hold a stake in this area and will seek to form joint ventures (JVs) with interested parties. It is thought that a full blown Production Sharing Contract (PSC) may not yet be offered, but more of a study agreement or prospecting type licence. The study area is around 29,000 sq km and covers open blocks previously known as J,K,L,M,N,O,P,R,S,T,U,V,W & X, although the block arrangement may be changed. The study area borders Apache's Block 58 where the company recently made its significant Maka Central 1 discovery with around 73m of oil pay, and 50m of light oil and gas condensate pay discovered in multiple stacked reservoirs in Late Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals. ExxonMobil's prolific Stabroek Block in Guyana also borders the study area. The continued de-risking of the Guyana-Suriname Basin by ExxonMobil has made Staatsolie's proposition more inviting. Staatsolie has apparently identified a large source rock in the area. Companies which already hold equity in Suriname are gearing up to drill in Suriname, including Kosmos Energy in Block 42 immediately to the north of Apache's Block 58. Total recently farmed-in to Apache's Block 58 for US$100 million for a 50% stake and according to Elias, Apache has identified more than 50 drillable prospects on the block.Staatsolie has recently issued bonds for the third time, primarily to raise money this time for its 2020-2027 investment programme. The implementation of this programme is estimated to cost more than US$ 1 billion. The company carried out a Nearshore Drilling project (NSD Project) over three continuous blocks (A, B & C) in the ultra-shallow waters of the Guyana-Suriname Basin to the south of the Staatsolie Study Area. Four of the six wells demonstrated the presence of oil, although these were non-commercial. The NSD Project ran from April to November 2019 with the drilling of Marai, Electric Ray, Kankantrie, Powisi, Gonini and Tukunari in this order. The wells were drilled to depths ranging from 1,000 to 3,000m. The state-owned company describes the collection of data as a sub goal of the project and that this data is "very valuable". Staatsolie believes that "geological insights are sharpened and the chance of success in the further search for oil is increased" with this information. The well data collected can now be tallied with the seismic data. It is understood that Staatsolie may still seek partners for its shallow water blocks as it looks to finance any possible future exploration programmes. The company decided to go solo with the 2019 NSD Project after failing to find partners through a formal farm-out process that ended in July 2017. In the previous farm-out prior to the NSD Project, the state oil interest was offering up to 50% of its interests in Block B and Block C.<P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P /><P />
It was reported in early February 2020, that Staatsolie is likely to carve out and offer stakes in its shallow water "Staatsolie Study Area" in H2 2020. Staatsolie CEO , Rudolf Elias, revealed, "we want to put it on the market somewhere in the second half of 2020". He also added that the state-owned company will hold a stake in this area and will seek to form joint ventures (JVs) with interested parties. It is thought that a full blown Production Sharing Contract (PSC) may not yet be offered, but more of a study agreement or prospecting type licence. 