Drilling is to start by December in a nine-well exploratory program by State Oil Co. Suriname NV (Staatsolie) on near-shore Block 4 in Suriname.
Well Services Petroleum Co. Ltd. of Trinidad & Tobago received a 3-year contract in July to drill the wells to 2,000 m in 0-25 m of water. Paradise Oil Co., a Staatsolie subsidiary, is managing the project.
The program will be the first near-shore venture in which Staatsolie assumes all risk.
Gulf Oil and Austra-Tex Oil Co. drilled exploratory wells on Block 4 during the 1980s. Paradise Oil shot 2D and 3D seismic surveys on the block in 2012.
Block 4 has mangrove vegetation, mud flats, and strong currents. It’s near onshore Tambaredjo field, which has produced heavy oil since the 1980s (OGJ Online, Aug. 11, 2014).