The French oil exploration and production company Total Energies is celebrating its enhanced reputation in the field of oil prospecting after having collaborated with Qatar Petroleum to clinch a contract for a major drilling operation offshore Suriname.
The two companies which have entered into production sharing contracts with each other have secured separate licences to drill blocks six and eight offshore Suriname in the Guyana/Suriname basin.
In what was clearly a celebratory statement, Total Senior Vice President Kevin McLachlan said that the award of the contract to Total demonstrates the company’s ability “to capture exploration acreage in a core area for TotalEnergies, pursuing our strategy of exploring for low development cost oil resources in highly prospective basins, particularly here, reinforcing our operatorship position in Suriname Block 58.”
In what the company is treating as a period of glowing success, Total Energies now joins a number of heavy hitters in the oil recovery industry, not least ExxonMobil, the US oil giant currently involved in oil exploration and recovery exercises under agreements with both Guyana and Suriname.
Total Energies has already made a name for itself in the Guyana/Suriname Basin having made four significant discoveries since January 2020 and where it is continuing operations this year.
Total Energies holds 40 per cent interest in the blocks, equivalent to the holdings of State-owned company Staatsolie, while Qatar Petroleum has a 20 per cent stake.
