A sign for a Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) gas station stands near the Petronas KLCC Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. - Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg
KUALA LUMPUR: Petroliam Nasional Bhd’s (PETRONAS)’ subsidiary, PETRONAS Suriname E&P B.V. (PETRONAS Suriname E&P), has made an oil discovery at the Roystonea-1 exploration well in Suriname’s Block 52.
In a statement, PETRONAS said the well, located about 185 kilometres offshore in water depth of 904 metres, was successfully drilled to a total depth of 5,315 metres. It also encountered several oil-bearing Campanian sandstone reservoir packages.
It said further evaluation is being undertaken to determine the full extent of this discovery and its potential development synergy with the Sloanea-1 discovery made in 2020 within the same block.
“PETRONAS views the Roystonea-1 oil discovery as a positive development towards realising our differentiated barrel strategy for international upstream ventures, focusing on a material discovery with minimal contaminants,” executive vice president and chief executive officer of upstream Datuk Adif Zulkifli said.
Meanwhile, PETRONAS vice president of exploration Mohd Redhani Abdul Rahman said: “The success of Roystonea-1 is expected to drive further exploration for commercially viable hydrocarbon resources in the surrounding areas. PETRONAS will continue to work closely with the host authority, Staatsolie, and partners to unlock Suriname's hydrocarbon potential. We look forward to implementing safe and successful future exploration programmes together.”
Block 52, which covers an area of 4,749 square kilometres, is located north of the coast of Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital city, within the prospective Suriname-Guyana basin. PETRONAS Suriname E&P is the operator of Block 52 with a 50 per cent participating interest.
In addition to Block 52, PETRONAS Suriname E&P operates Block 48 with 100% participating interest. It is also a partner with 30% non-operating participating interest in the adjacent Block 53 where the Baja-1 oil discovery was made in 2022.
