Hess (Suriname II) Exploration Ltd. (Hess) relinquished Block 59 offshore Suriname on July 8, 2025. The block will return to Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname NV and become part of the open acreage, the state oil firm said in a release this week.
Hess fulfilled its minimum work obligations and has decided not to move forward to the next phase of the exploration period.
In July 2024, Hess' partners ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname BV and Statoil Suriname B59 BV withdrew and transferred their respective participation stakes to Hess, which from then on became the sole party in Block 59. At the time, Staatsolie said Hess was looking to continue exploring the block and had been given until July 2025 to find a partner and enter the next phase in the exploration period (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2024).
Block 59 lies offshore northwest Suriname and covers about 11,480 sq km in 2,700-3,500 m water depth.
After 6,000 km of 2D seismic data and 9,000 sq km of 3D seismic data were collected in the block, the two previously exiting partners considered the risk too high for drilling an exploration well.
In the past year, despite efforts, Hess did not find any new partners to continue exploration of Block 59.
About the Author
Alex Procyk
Upstream Editor
Alex Procyk is Upstream Editor at Oil & Gas Journal. He has also served as a principal technical professional at Halliburton and as a completion engineer at ConocoPhillips. He holds a BS in chemistry (1987) from Kent State University and a PhD in chemistry (1992) from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).