TotalEnergies buys 25% stake in offshore Suriname to expand $10.5 billion development

TotalEnergies Acquires 25% Stake in Suriname's Offshore Block 53

By America Hernandez

PARIS -TotalEnergies has acquired a 25% stake in Block 53 offshore Suriname from Spanish company Moeve, it said on Friday without giving financial details.

The purchase expands Total's position in one of the world's top exploration hotspots, where the French firm is already the first mover among oil majors.

Block 53 is adjacent to Total's $10.5 billion Gran Morgu development, which received a final investment decision in October and is estimated to hold more than 700 million barrels of recoverable resources.

The South American country has yet to produce hydrocarbons, but has ambitions to emulate neighbouring Guyana, where a consortium led by Exxon Mobil has discovered more than 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas.

Gran Morgu, a 200,000-barrel-per-day capacity development, is expected online in the first half of 2028. 

Total said Block 53 contains an oil and gas discovery made in 2022 by partner APA, Baja-1, on the border of Gran Morgu, which can feed into already-planned infrastructure and extend the production plateau of its existing project.

Baja-1 contained 34 meters (112 feet) of net oil pay when drilled to a depth of 5,290 meters (17,356 feet) below sea level, according to APA. 

The French oil company has already spent more than $1.4 billion on exploration in Suriname, and the floating offshore production unit for Gran Morgu will be one of the firm's largest, it has said. 

Spain's second largest oil company Moeve, formerly known as CEPSA, has sold 70% of its oil production assets since 2022 as part of an 8-billion-euro ($9.4 billion) plan to pivot toward low carbon businesses.

Houston-based APA, which operates Block 53, holds a 45% stake, while Petronas owns 30%.

($1 = 0.8537 euros)

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris; Editing by Joe Bavier, Barbara Lewis and Elaine Hardcastle)