Apache Corp of the US has a major discovery off Suriname, Bloomberg reported yesterday.
The update on the Maka Central-1 well in Suriname offers a path forward for Apache, which had fallen out of favour with investors after the company’s Alpine High project in the Permian Basin of West Texas ended up being richer in natural gas than more-valuable oil, a release from Bloomberg said. Apache shares jumped as much as 26% in New York, the most in at least four decades, after the Houston-based explorer and new partner, France’s Total SA announced the find yesterday. Initial data indicates “the potential for prolific oil wells” in the block, Apache Chief Executive Officer John Christmann said in a statement, with seismic images suggesting “a substantial resource.”
Bloomberg said that the discovery eases concerns that the fate of Apache’s Suriname programme would mirror that of Alpine High, a project in a little-drilled corner of the Permian which the company announced to much fanfare in 2016.
Suriname jitters reached a fever pitch last year after the company’s head of exploration abruptly left, a move that sent shares plunging even as Apache insisted it was unrelated to the Maka Central-1 results. A month-and-a-half later, Apache released a vague update on Suriname that worried investors who thought the company was continuing to drill because its initial activities had been unsuccessful.
Apache announced its 50-50 joint venture with Total for Suriname’s Block 58 at the end of last year, days after ExxonMobil Corp. and Hess Corp began commercial production in nearby Guyanese waters. Bloomberg said that the Guyana-Suriname basin is emerging as the oil industry’s hottest exploration play
