Petronas Confirms Oil discovery in Block 52 Offshore Suriname

02 November 2023

Malaysian Petronas has made an oil discovery with the Roystonea-1 exploration well in Block 52 in offshore Surinamese. The company confirmed this today.

The Roystonea-1 exploration well, approximately 185 kilometers off the Surinamese coast in a water depth of 904 meters, was successfully drilled to a total depth of 5,315 meters. Several oil-bearing sand layers have been encountered. The find is evaluated to determine the size of the reservoir. It will also be determined whether there are synergy development opportunities of Roystonea-1 and the Sloanea-1 discovery, which was also made in Block 52 in 2020.

Staatsolie is extremely pleased with the news about Roystonea-1. Discoveries have now been made in several blocks, contributing to the development of a promising offshore oil and gas sector in Suriname. The discovery also proves the potential of the Suriname-Guyana basin. Staatsolie's strategy is to have as much acreage as possible under contract with international partners. These can then develop the areas through their investments, knowledge and skills.

For Petronas, the Roystonea-1 discovery is an incentive for further exploration in the blocks in which it operates alone or with partners.

Block 52 has an area of 4,749 square kilometers and is located north of the Surinamese coast.
Petronas, with a fifty percent interest, is the operator in this block, in which ExxonMobil also has a fifty percent interest. Petronas is also a non-executive partner in Block 53 (thirty percent interest) and one hundred percent operator in Block 48.