The American international oil and gas company Hess (Suriname II) Exploration Limited (Hess) will relinquish Block 59 in offshore Suriname on 8 July 2025. The block will return to Staatsolie and become part of the open acreage.
Hess fulfilled its minimum work obligations and has decided not to move forward to the next phase of the exploration period, which concludes on 8 July 2025. In July 2024, Hess’ partners ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V., and Statoil Suriname B59 B.V. (from 2018 Equinor Suriname B59 B.V.) withdrew and transferred their respective participation stakes to Hess, which from then on became the sole party in Block 59.
The Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Block 59 was signed in July 2017 between Staatsolie, ExxonMobil, Statoil (Equinor), and Hess. Block 59 was located in the far northwest of Suriname’s offshore, and covered about 11,480 square kilometers in water depths of 2,700 to 3,500 m. Significant volumes are required for potential economically viable oilfield development in this block. After 6,000 km of 2D seismic data and 9,000 km2 of 3D seismic data were collected in the block, the two previously exiting partners considered the risk too high for drilling an exploration well. In the past year, despite efforts, Hess did not find any new partners to continue exploration of Block 59.
The area formerly designated as Block 59 will be incorporated into Staatsolie’s strategy to have as much of the offshore acreage under contract with international parties. Currently, production sharing contracts are in place with a number of international oil and gas companies for the various blocks, covering approximately fifty percent of Suriname’s offshore.
A PSC gives a foreign oil and gas company exploration, development and production rights and allows parties to attract partners or withdraw. This is common in the oil and gas industry. The costs and risks in the exploration period are fully borne by the partner(s). Companies decide to partner in or leave an area based on their global portfolio and risk assessments.
