据油价网2021年9月14日报道，新冠肺炎疫情大流行对南美洲财政脆弱的小国经济造成了相当大的破坏，前荷兰殖民地苏里南受到的打击尤其严重。
尽管苏里南目前的石油储量只有8900万桶，但这个南美洲小国却拥有巨大的石油潜力。 这个贫穷的国家与圭亚那共享多产的圭亚那-苏里南盆地，美国地质调查局估计这个盆地有多达356亿桶的未探明石油资源。 邻国圭亚那已经经历了大规模的石油繁荣，其GDP在2020年惊人地增长了43%。
埃克森美孚公司在圭亚那近海斯塔布鲁克区块发现了大量的优质石油，最新的石油发现是Pinktail井，表明石油潜力更大。 埃克森美孚公司与合作伙伴马来西亚国家石油公司在苏里南第52号区块海上的Sloanea-1勘探井发现了碳氢化合物。 据信，占地160万英亩的第52号区块和相邻的140万英亩的第58号区块与多产的斯塔布鲁克区块位于同一油气通路上。
美国阿帕奇公司和作业者法国道达尔能源公司在第58号区块中获得了5个高质量的石油发现，两家公司各持有50%的权益。
投资银行摩根士丹利在2020年宣布，它已经对第58号区块的石油潜力进行了建模，确定该区块的石油资源可能高达65亿桶。
行业咨询公司挪威雷斯塔能源公司估计，截至2021年6月底，苏里南海上发现的5个油田可采石油资源高达19亿桶原油。
在2021年6月举行苏里南能源、石油和天然气峰会上，阿帕奇公司全球地球科学和投资组合管理副总裁Eric Vosburgh表示：“我想说的是，苏里南的石油资源和生产潜力的最终规模是很大的。 我想我需要一个比‘大’更大的词，但它确实很大。”阿帕奇公司和合作伙伴道达尔能源公司致力于开发第58号区块。 在2021年初，阿帕奇公司宣布其每年2亿美元的勘探预算将大部分用于苏里南的钻井。 道达尔能源公司将2021年的勘探预算拨款8亿美元，将其勘探评估活动所需资金的三分之一用于苏里南第58号区块。
虽然第58号区块的开发计划尚未公布，但道达尔能源公司和阿帕奇公司预计将在2022年年中做出最终投资决定，并在2025年实现首次石油投产。 苏里南国家石油公司和行业监管机构statatsolie有权在第58号区块购入权益，并持有20%的股份，这将使其承担10亿至15亿美元的开发成本。 帕拉马里博还专注于在苏里南吸引更多的能源投资，最近向外国能源巨头授予了3个浅水区块。道达尔能源公司及其合作伙伴卡塔尔石油公司获得了第6和第8号区块，这两个区块与第58号区块相邻，雪佛龙公司获得了第5号区块。 这些区块迄今勘探不足，被认为有相当大的石油潜力。
在苏里南第58号区块发现的中轻质原油与相邻的斯塔布鲁克区块采出的丽莎等级原油具有相似的特征。 再加上布伦特原油约40美元/桶的估计盈亏平衡价格，就不难理解为什么苏里南近海对国际能源公司特别有吸引力了。
随着更多的石油发现、油田开发和基础设施建设，苏里南海上的盈亏平衡价格将降至每桶40美元以下，使该地区与邻国圭亚那和巴西展开海上竞争。
苏里南信用评级的下调将使帕拉马里博难以筹集急需的资金，包括苏里南国家石油公司行使其从第58号区块购入权益选择权所需的资金。
当前的经济危机加上去年近14%的经济萎缩，强调了帕拉马里博必须吸引更多外国能源公司的投资，才能像邻国圭亚那一样经历大规模的经济繁荣。 法国石油巨道达尔能源公司将成为苏里南新兴海上石油繁荣的主要参与者。
李峻 编译自 油价网
原文如下：
The Next South American Oil Giant
The COVID pandemic has wreaked considerable damage align="justify"> Despite Suriname align="justify"> Exxon’s slew of quality oil discoveries in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, with the latest at the Pinktail well, point to even greater petroleum potential. Exxon along with partner Malaysian national oil company Petronas, which is the operator, found the presence of hydrocarbons at the 15,682-foot Sloanea-1 exploration well in offshore Suriname Block 52. The 1.6-million-acre Block 52 and neighboring 1.4-million-acre Block 58 are believed to lie align="justify"> That proposition is supported by the five quality oil discoveries made by Apache and TotalEnergies, the operator, in Block 58 where they both hold a 50% interest.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley in 2020 announced that it had modeled the oil potential for Block 58 and determined that it could contain oil resources of up to 6.5 billion barrels.
Industry consultancy Rystad Energy estimates that the five discoveries made in offshore Suriname up until the end of June 2021 hold recoverable oil resources of up to 1.9 billion barrels of crude oil.
At the June 2021 Suriname Energy, Oil and Gas Summit Apache’s Vice President Global Geoscience and Portfolio Management Eric Vosburgh stated; “What I would say is that the ultimate scale of the resource and production potential is big. I think I need a word bigger than big, but it’s big.” Apache and partner TotalEnergies are committed to developing Block 58. At the start of 2021, Apache announced that most of its annual $200 million exploration budget will be directed toward drilling in Suriname. TotalEnergies set a 2021 exploration budget allocated $800 million with the energy supermajor devoting a third of its exploration appraisal activities to Block 58.
While plans to develop the block have yet to be released TotalEnergies and Apache are expected to make their final investment decision during mid-2022 and work toward first oil by 2025. Suriname’s national oil company and industry regulator Staatsolie has the right to farm into Block 58 and take up to a 20% stake, which would see it liable for $1 billion to $1.5 billion in development costs. Paramaribo is also focused align="justify"> The medium and light crude oil found in Block 58 has similar characteristics to the Liza grade crude oil being pumped from the neighboring Stabroek Block. When that is combined with a low estimated breakeven price of around $40 per barrel Brent it is easy to see why offshore Suriname is especially attractive for international energy companies.
As further petroleum discoveries are made, oilfields developed and infrastructure built the breakeven price for offshore Suriname will fall to under $40 per barrel, making the region competitive with neighboring offshore Guyana and Brazil.
The downgrades to Suriname’s credit rating will make it difficult for Paramaribo to raise urgently needed capital including that required by Staatsolie to exercise its farm in option for Block 58.
The current economic crisis coupled with the economy shrinking by nearly 14% last year emphasizes why Paramaribo must attract further investment from foreign energy companies so it can experience a massive economic boom like the one underway in neighboring Guyana. It is French oil supermajor TotalEnergies which is positioned to become a leading player in Suriname’s emerging offshore oil boom.