melb roadshow..., page-27

re: melb roadshow 618 ...and mputa2 Staatsolie certainly have a busy schedule over the next couple of years. Interesting times ahead!

Cheers,
xmagx

Calcutta adds to Suriname surge

By Upstream staff

Suriname's state-run oil company Staatsolie is planning to ramp up production at a new onshore field and boost overall crude output at a double-digit rate next year.
The former Dutch colony, nestled between Guyana and Brazil in northern South America, hopes its newest field, dubbed Calcutta, will reach peak production of 5000 barrels per day in 2007, according to an exploration source.

While current production data is not available, Staatsolie estimates the onshore field holds about 23 million barrels of crude.

So far, the company has drilled 12 wells and plans to sink another 160 probes over the next two years.

Suriname's biggest field, Tambaredjo, located in the northern district of Saramacca, currently produces about 12,500 bpd. The field came on stream in the early 1980s.

Suriname, which has put three offshore exploration blocks in the Suriname Guyana basin on offer, is seeing exploration and production activity pick up at a time when the state company is closely following interest from bidders for the blocks.

Bidding for the acreage blocks 15, 36 and 37 will close on 2 July.

Successful bidders stand to gain production sharing contracts for the blocks.

Staatsolie has already signed a handful of joint ventures with foreign oil companies, including US-based Occidental and Spain's Repsol YPF, to explore for oil offshore.

The level of exploration activity in Suriname has been on the rise since 2004 and E&P players working under agreements there are making headway in acquiring seismic data.

In offshore Block 30, Repsol YPF together with partners Occidental and US-based Noble Energy hope to finalise a 3250 square-kilometre 3D seismic programme shortly.

Occidental finished a 3000-kilometre 2D seismic shoot in offshore Block 32 in February, the source said.

06 April 2006 23:01 GMT | last updated: 07 April 2006 10:25 GMT

http://www.upstreamonline.com/hardcopy/news/article108093.ece