The French supermajor and APA Corporation found significant amounts of oil and associated gas in the Krabdagu-1 well, in the central area of Block 58 offshore Suriname, TotalEnergies said on Monday. The discovery announced today follows four previous Suriname discoveries—Maka, Sapakara, Kwaskwasi, and Keskesi.

Drill stem test operations will be carried out now at Krabdagu-1 to appraise the resources and productivity, and at least three further exploration and appraisal wells are planned to be drilled in 2022 on the block, TotalEnergies said.

“This successful exploration well at Krabdagu-1 is a significant addition to the discovered resources in the central area of Block 58. This result encourages us to continue our exploration and appraisal strategy of this prolific Block 58 in order to identify sufficient resources by year-end 2022 for a first oil development,” Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President, Exploration at TotalEnergies, said in a statement.

Suriname hopes to replicate Guyana’s success. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Guyana-Suriname Basin could hold up to 32.6 billion barrels of undiscovered oil resources, underscoring the tremendous hydrocarbon potential that the countries share. It is estimated that Suriname’s offshore oil discoveries held recoverable oil resources of nearly 2 billion barrels as of the end of 2021.

Suriname’s neighbor, Guyana, became a major holder of oil and gas reserves in 2015 when ExxonMobil found oil in its waters in what turned out to be a block with resources estimated at 10 billion oil-equivalent barrels and counting. Now Guyana wants to capitalize on the large oil and gas discoveries over the past half-decade to build up an economy powered by its own energy resources.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com