Fourth major oil discovery offshore Suriname

Last Updated on Thursday, 14 January 2021, 7:26 by Denis Chabrol

Total and Apache Corp. have made a new significant oil and gas discovery at the Keskesi East-1 well, in Block 58 off the coast of Suriname, Oilfield Technology reported.

This follows previous discoveries at Maka Central, Sapakara West and Kwaskwasi,

The well was drilled by a water depth of about 725 m and encountered a total of 63 m net pay of hydrocarbons, comprised of 58 m net black oil, volatile oil, and gas pay in good quality Campano-Maastrichtian reservoirs, along with 5 m of net volatile oil pay in Santonian reservoirs, where wireline logging has just been performed. Drilling is still ongoing for deeper Neocomian aged targets.

“We are delighted to announce this new discovery, which confirms this first exploration campaign as a full success and adds to the proven resource base” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President Exploration at Total. “We are also excited, as new operator of the block, to start the appraisal operations designed to characterise the 2020 discoveries, while in parallel start a second exploration campaign on this prolific block in 2021.”

Total assumed operatorship of Block 58 on 1 January 2021, with a 50% working interest. Upon completion of the operations on Keskesi East-1, the Noble Sam Croft drillship will be released.