Total’s exploration in the Guyana-Suriname Basin. (Credit: © WordAppeal-TotalEnergies)
Drillship arriving at the site. (Credit: APA Corporation)
Oil discoveries in Block 58. (Credit: GlobeNewswire/APA Corporation)

The Block 58 Oil Project is a large offshore deepwater oil project located off the coast of Suriname. The project is operated by TotalEnergies (50%).

The partners of the project are TotalEnergies (50%) and Apache (APA) (50%). Both companies signed a joint venture agreement to develop the project in December 2019.

Under the agreement, APA was the operator of the project till January 2021 when the operatorship was transferred to TotalEnergies after the fourth discovery in Block 58.

In September 2023, TotalEnergies and APA launched the development studies for the project.

The detailed engineering studies (Front-End Engineering and Design, FEED) commenced by the end of 2023.

The project will support the creation of jobs and the development of economic activities for Suriname during its development and operation.

Block 58 Location Details

The Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) of the Block 58 Oil Project is approximately 150km offshore Suriname. Block 58 covers an area of approximately 1.4 million acres (0.56 million hectares).

The project reserves are located in water depths ranging between 100m and 1,000m.

Block 58 Discoveries

The Block 58 discoveries include Maka Central 1 well, Sapakara West-1 well, Kwaskwasi-1 well, Keskesi East-1 exploration well, Sapakara South-1 appraisal well, Keskesi South-1 appraisal well, and Bonboni-1 exploration well.

The Krabdagu-1 (KBD-1) exploration well, Dikkop exploration well, Awari exploration prospect, and Sapakara South-2 appraisal well are other discoveries of the project.

The Sapakara South (1 and 2) and KBD-1 are the main oil discoveries of the project. Their appraisals were completed in August 2023.

An oil discovery was announced at the Maka Central-1 well in January 2020. The well was drilled by the drillship Noble Sam Croft.

The well was tested for hydrocarbons in the Upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals and encountered oil and gas condensate.

The Sapakara West-1 well was drilled by Noble Sam Croft to a depth of approximately 6,300m. The results, announced in April 2020, encountered hydrocarbons in the Upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals.

The third consecutive discovery Kwaskwasi-1 well, located approximately 10km northwest of the Sapakara West-1, was drilled by Noble Sam Croft.

The well was drilled to a depth of approximately 6,645m and the results, announced in July 2020, encountered hydrocarbons in the Upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals.

In January 2021, the fourth oil discovery Keskesi East-1 exploration well was announced by APA and TotalEnergies approximately 14km southeast of Sapakara West-1.

Drilled by Noble Sam Croft, the well encountered oil and gas condensate in in the Upper Cretaceous-aged Campanian and Santonian intervals.

As part of the appraisal program for a fast-track black oil development, the Sapakara South-1 appraisal well, located on the eastern edge of the Sapakara area, was drilled by the Maersk Valiant drillship and in July 2021, the drilling results were announced by APA.

The well encountered net black oil in a high-quality Campano-Maastrichtian reservoir at approximately 30m depth.

Another appraisal well at Kwaskwasi encountered black oil above water in the Campano-Maastrichtian reservoir.

Maersk Valiant drilled the Keskesi South-1 appraisal well located approximately 6.2km from the Keskesi East-1. The drilling results were announced in September 2021.

The well was abandoned due to the absence of non-commercial hydrocarbons. Maersk Valiant returned to Sapakara South-1 to conduct a flow test.

In November 2021, the drilling results of the Bonboni-1 exploration well and Sapakara South-1 flow test results were announced by APA.

The preliminary analysis of the flow test data indicated exceptional reservoir quality in Sapakara South-1 with 325-375mmbbls of oil and flowing gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) of approximately 1,100 standard cubic feet per barrel (scf/bbl).

Located approximately 45km from APA’s discoveries in the Maka-Kwaskwasi-Sapakara-Keskesi trend, Bonboni-1 was drilled to a depth of nearly 2,000 in the Maastrichtian and Campanian reservoir.

The well encountered high-quality water-bearing reservoirs, black oil, and reservoir sands.

The KBD-1 exploration well was announced in February 2022 by APA located approximately 18km southeast of the Sapakara South-1.

Maersk Valiant drilled the well to a depth of approximately 5,273m and encountered oil at approximately 90m in good-quality reservoirs with multiple stacked targets in the Maastrichtian and Campanian intervals.

The drilling results of the Dikkop exploration well were announced in August 2022 by APA. The well was drilled by Maersk Valiant and encountered water-bearing sandstones in the targeted interval.

The drilling operation at the Awari exploration prospect in the northwest part of Block 58 was concluded and the results were announced in November 2022. Awari proved non-commercial.

Located approximately 4.6km south of the Sapakara South-1, the Sapakara South-2 appraisal well was successfully drilled, flow tested, and the results were announced in February 2023 by APA.

The well encountered approximately 30m of oil in the high-quality Maastrichtian and Campanian reservoirs. The flow test results of the well indicated more than 200mmbbls of oil.

Currently, appraisal works are progressing at Krabdagu. After the Krabdagu-2 appraisal in February 2023, the appraisal of Krabdagu-3 extended the oil resource 14km from the discovery well.

Block 58 Development

The Block 58 Oil Project will consist of subsea wells and an FPSO. The project will be developed with an investment of approximately $9bn.

TotalEnergies and APA are expected to take the Final Investment Decision (FID) by the end of 2024.

The project reserves will be produced through a system of subsea wells connected to the FPSO. The FPSO will have an oil production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd).

The Sapakara South and Krabdagu oil discoveries have total recoverable resources close to 700 million barrels of oil (mmbo). The first production from the project is targeted for 2028.

Block 58 Contractors

In June 2024, SBM Offshore, in partnership with Technip Energies, received a contract for the Fast4Ward hull for the Block 58 Oil Project from TotalEnergies EP Suriname, an affiliate of TotalEnergies.

The contract is in line with the FEED studies for the FPSO of the project.

Noble Sam Croft is owned by Noble Corporation and Maersk Valiant was delivered by Maersk Drilling in 2014.

The contract for Maersk Valiant commenced in March 2021 and ended in September 2022. The contract was extended for approximately $24.3m.

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