Staatsolie Hydrocarbon Institute N.V. (SHI) embodies the institutional role of Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. (Staatsolie), creating the right conditions for investments and supervises the hydrocarbon activities by independent oil companies in Suriname, in order to optimize the value from petroleum activities for Suriname.
Initially Staatsolie was established in 1980 as a state vehicle to execute the Government’s oil policy. That policy stipulates that foreign oil companies can only explore for and eventually produce oil through service contracts with Staatsolie.
The first task was to monitor the operations of Gulf Oil that had an agreement to execute petroleum operations offshore Suriname. At the same time our first CEO, Eddie Jharap took the action to exploit the oil accumulations in Saramacca, onshore Suriname. And it is this policy that has stood the test of time, enabling Staatsolie to gain extensive knowledge and experience through the decades, becoming a top quartile operator both in terms of exploitation and cost efficiency.
By the year 2000, with growing interest in the offshore of Suriname, the strategic decision was taken to also develop the regulator's role which led to the set-up of the Petroleum Contracts division. The anticipation of an imminent significant hydrocarbon discovery prompted the need to further progress the development of this role for the now burgeoning oil and gas industry in Suriname.
This eventually led to the establishment of a separate subsidiary, Staatsolie Hydrocarbon Institute N.V. (SHI) in 2020.
Our Vision
To become a world-class hydrocarbon institute for the sustainable development of the petroleum industry in Suriname.
Our Mission
Maximize the economic benefit for Suriname by regulating, influencing and promoting the sustainable development of the hydrocarbon industry in adherence to world-class standards and practices.
Our Values
We share the core values of our parent company Staatsolie.
HSEC FOCUSED
We put health and safety first, strive for zero harm to our people and the communities around us, and minimize negative impacts upon the environment.
INTEGRITY
We are honest and do what we say we will do.
PEOPLE FOCUSED
We create a supportive and collaborative environment, respect each other, are open to other’s ideas and facilitate personal and professional growth.
EXCELLENCE
We set high standards for quality, strive to exceed expectations and do our work with a sense of urgency.
ACCOUNTABILITY
We accept responsibility for our job and actions, are co-operative, and create a non-blaming environment.
Within the embodiment of the institutional task of Staatsolie, our core tasks are:
With the significant hydrocarbon discoveries and therefore the now burgeoning petroleum industry in Suriname, we want to seize the opportunity to play a part in increasing the awareness of Local Content related potential.
To this end Staatsolie commissioned Development Alternatives Incorporated, DAI, to carry out an Industrial Baseline Study to assess the preparedness of the Surinamese private sector under the conditions of a potential supply and demand landscape and the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
The study highlights insights into the roles of different stakeholders and which possible strategies and actions could mitigate gaps and what kind of investments would be required to partake in the petroleum sector developments.
Potential suppliers who want to be informed on the developments within the offshore petroleum sector can register on the Supplier Registration Portal (SRP). For questions related to the SRP visit the Frequently Asked Questions section.
Download: Industrial Baseline Study Findings Presentation (Nov 2018)
All petroleum ventures in Suriname are covered by a Production Sharing Contract (PSC), because the PSC allows investor participation while retaining national ownership of shares of petroleum produced. The additional benefits are:
Through PSCs the host government awards the execution of exploration and production activities to an oil company. The oil company bears the mineral and financial risk of the initiative and explores, develops and ultimately produces the field as required. When successful, the company is permitted to use the money from produced oil to recover capital and operational expenditures, known as "cost oil". The remaining money is known as "profit oil", and is split between the government and the company.
By virtue of the Mining Decree (Official Gazette 1986, no 28) concession rights for petroleum activities are granted exclusively to state enterprises. According to the Petroleum Law (Official Gazette 1991, no 7), state enterprises with petroleum concession rights, are authorized to enter into petroleum agreements with other established petroleum companies.
Our model PSC is publicly available. Download the State Decree Royalty Offshore
SHI is mandated to attract qualified international oil companies to sustainably explore and develop Suriname’s hydrocarbon resources. As of January 2022, there are 10 active production sharing contracts for offshore and onshore blocks.
| Effective Year | Area | Block | Operator | Partner(s) | PSC Status | Well Aliase | Well Name | Spud | Total Depth (MD) |
| 1957 | Onshore | N/A | Colmar Surinam Oil Company | Relinquished | |||||
| 1993 | Offshore | Contract Area | Pecten Suriname Ltd | Relinquished | |||||
| 1999 | Offshore | Inboard and Outboard area | Burlington Resources Suriname Ltd | Shell EP Suriname B.V. | Relinquished | ||||
| Totalfina Exploration Suriname | |||||||||
| Korea National Oil Corporation | |||||||||
| 2000 | Onshore | Wayambo | Koch Exploration International B.V. | Relinquished | |||||
| 2004 | Offshore | 30 | Repsol Exploracion, S.A | Relinquished (2012) | WT-1 | West Tapir-1 | 2008 | 4080m | |
| 2004 | Offshore | 31 | Maersk Oil Suriname B.V. | Relinquished (2016) | AKT-1ST2 | Aitkantie-1(ST2) | 2011 | 5483m | |
| Spari-1ST1 | Spari-1(ST1) | 2015 | 3830m | ||||||
| 2005 | Offshore | 32 | Occidental of Suriname LLC | Relinquished (2009) | |||||
| 2007 | Onshore | Uitkijk | Paradise Oil Company N.V. (Staatsolie) | Hardman Oil and Gas PTY Ltd | Relinquished (2016) | ||||
| 2007 | Onshore | Coronie | Paradise Oil Company N.V. (Staatsolie) | Hardman Oil and Gas PTY Ltd | Relinquished (2015) | ||||
| 2007 | Offshore | 37 | Murphy Suriname Oil Company Ltd | Relinquished (2012) | CRC-1 | Caracara-1 | 2010 | 2705m | |
| ARC-1 | Aracari-1 | 2011 | 2450m | ||||||
| 2010 | Offshore | 47 | Tullow Suriname B.V. | Petroandina Resources Corporation N.V. | Relinquished (2021) | GVN-1* | Goliath-Voltzberg North-1 | 2021 | 5060m |
| Ratio Suriname Limited | |||||||||
| 2011 | Offshore | 42 | KE Suriname B.V. (Shell) | Hess Suriname Exploration Limited | Active | PON-1* | Pontoenoe-1 | 2018 | 6194m |
| Chevron Suriname Exploration Limited | |||||||||
| 2011 | Offshore | 45 | Kosmos Energy Suriname | Chevron Suriname Exploration Limited | Relinquished (2020) | ANA-1(A) | Anapai-1(A) | 2018 | 3577m |
| 2012 | Offshore | 48 | Petronas Suriname E&P B.V. | Active | |||||
| 2013 | Offshore | 52 | Petronas Suriname E&P B.V. | ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V. | Active | RS-1X* | Roselle-1 | 2016 | 4908m |
| SLO-1* | Sloanea-1 | 2020 | 4780m | ||||||
| 2013 | Offshore | 53 | APA Suriname Corporation LDC | Cepsa Suriname S.L. |
Active | POP-1* | Popokai-1 | 2015 | 7200m |
| Petronas Suriname E&P BV | KOL-1* | Kolibrie-1 | 2017 | 5212m | |||||
| 2014 | Offshore | 54 | Tullow Oil Suriname B.V. | Relinquished (2021) | ARA-1* | Araku-1 | 2017 | 2685m | |
| 2015 | Offshore | 58 | Total E&P Suriname B.V. | APA Suriname 58 Corporation LDC | Active | MKC-1* | Maka Central-1 | 2019 | 6285m |
| SPW-1* | Sapakara West-1 | 2020 | 6326m | ||||||
| KWA-1* | Kwaskwasi-1 | 2020 | 6644m | ||||||
| KEE-1* | Keskesi East-1 | 2020 | 6675m | ||||||
| SPW-2* | Sapakara West-2 | 2021 | - | ||||||
| SPS-1* | Sapakara South-1 | 2021 | - | ||||||
| KES-1* | Keskesi South-1 | 2021 | - | ||||||
| BNB-1* | Bonboni-1 | 2021 | - | ||||||
| KBD-1* | Krabdagu-1 | 2021 | 5273m | ||||||
| 2018 | Offshore | 59 | ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V. | Hess (Suriname II) Exploration Limited | Active | ||||
| Equinor Suriname B59 B.V. | |||||||||
| 2018 | Offshore | 60 | Equinor Suriname B60 B.V. | Relinquished (2020) | |||||
| 2018 | Offshore | 61 | Capricorn Suriname B.V. | Active | |||||
| 2018 | Offshore | 62 | Tullow Suriname B.V. | Petroandina Resources Corporation N.V. | Relinquished (2021) | ||||
| 2019 | Onshore | Nickerie | Decker Petroleum and Marketing Co. Ltd. | Active | |||||
| 2019 | Onshore | Weg naar Zee | Challenger Energy Group PLC | Active | |||||
| 2021 | Offshore | 5 | Chevron Suriname Exploration Limited | Paradise Oil Company N.V. (Staatsolie) | Active | ||||
| KE Suriname B.V. (Shell) | |||||||||
| 2022 | Offshore | 7 | Chevron Suriname Exploration Limited | Paradise Oil Company N.V. (Staatsolie) | Active | ||||
| PSC Overview per 8 March 2022 | * Confidential wells | |||||||||
The Guiana Basin is a sedimentary basin encompassing the coastal area of French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and the eastern part of Venezuela (Antillean Arch). Most of the Guyana-Suriname Basin lies offshore, where the sediment package becomes thicker as the basin grows deeper. The outcrop of crystalline Proterozoic basement, the Guiana Shield, marks the southern limit.
Commercial production is for the time being only in the onshore Tambaredjo, Calcutta and Tambaredjo Northwest Fields in Suriname, with an original STOIIP of 1 Billion barrels. These fields are currently producing approximately 16,000 BOPD. Staatsolie has been, for the last 40 years, the sole operator of these fields.
SHI has collated the vast amount of non-proprietary geological and geophysical data that have been gathered and processed throughout the decades in structured data packages. We are pleased to offer these data packages to competent oil and gas companies to conduct independent evaluations in order to assess the geology and hydrocarbon potential of the Suriname-Guyana Basin. View our data packages here.
If any interested party wishes to purchase any of the data packages or have any inqueries, please send us an email indicating which data package is desired along with any inqueries. Include the following information in your email:
Once the request has been processed, SHI will submit a confidentiality agreement (CA) for signature. After the CA has been signed by both parties, we will invoice the interested party and only release the data package upon confirmation of payment.
Here you can find the recordings from the presentations by officials from Total Exploration and Production Suriname B.V. at the Local Content Service Forum on 4 March 2021, the presentation slides, and the FAQ.
Staatsolie Hydrocarbon Institute N.V. (SHI)
Address: Dr. Ir. H.S. Adhinstraat 21
Phone: +597499649 ext. 61452
E-mail: SHI@staatsolie.com
