Staatsolie, Suriname’s national oil concern, has wrapped up its 2019 drilling program without making any discoveries. The company has drilled six exploration wells in the shallow-water zone offshore Suriname since April, but none of them contained commercial quantities of crude oil or natural gas.
These dry holes are disappointing in light of the offshore discoveries made in neighboring Guyana, but Staatsolie has pledged to push forward with exploration work. Since the 12,000-square km offshore zone has not yet been adequately explored, it should be surveyed further, the company said on December 6.
In the meantime, the data collected from the wells drilled in 2019 will help Staatsolie develop a better understanding of the shallow-water zone. Data can now be associated with existing sets of seismic data, the company said.