It had always been felt that once Suriname’s oil and gas industry become ‘up and running’ the likelihood of joint ventures spanning an assortment of petro-related projects might be high notwithstanding the existing river dispute between the two neighbouring countries. Indeed, in the wake of what is now irrefutable evidence that the two countries are on their way to world class petro profiles, enhanced relations at the levels of both the state and the private sector in the two countries has been evident. Contextually, to-ing and froing of business delegations has now become commonplace and earlier this month, a high profile Guyana-Suriname business encounter in Georgetown, attracted participation from business officials beyond the region.
Contextually, the Friday October 18 disclosure that the two countries were moving towards the joint exploration of their respective reserves was not anywhere close to being as jaw-dropping as it otherwise might have been.
