US international oil and gas company Hess (Suriname II) Exploration Limited (Hess) will give up Block 59 in the Suriname offshore on 8 July 2025. The block will be handed back to Staatsolie and become part of the open acreage.
Hess completed its minimum work requirements and has elected not to proceed to the subsequent phase of the exploration period, which expires on 8 July 2025. In July 2024, Hess' partners ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V., and Statoil Suriname B59 B.V. (formerly from 2018 Equinor Suriname B59 B.V.) relinquished and assigned their respective participation interest to Hess, which from that time became the only party in Block 59.
The Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Block 59 was signed in July 2017 among Staatsolie, ExxonMobil, Statoil (Equinor), and Hess. Block 59 was located in the far north-west of Suriname's offshore and covered a surface area of about 11,480 square kilometers in 2,700 to 3,500 m water depths. Prospective economically exploitable oilfield development in this block requires large volumes. After acquiring 6,000 km of 2D seismic data and 9,000 km2 of 3D seismic data in the block, the two hitherto existing partners believed the risk was too great to drill an exploration well. During the past year, even after efforts were made, Hess was unable to locate any new partners to explore Block 59.
The area once known as Block 59 will be part of Staatsolie's scheme to create as much of the offshore block as possible as an international group awards a contract. Production sharing contracts are already retained by various major international oil and gas companies for the various blocks, representing approximately half of Suriname's offshore acreage.
A PSC grants a foreign oil and gas company exploration, development and production rights and allows parties to have partners induced or to withdraw. It is common in the oil and gas industry. The cost and risks of the exploration phase are fully borne by the partner(s). Companies make choices to partner in or to drop an area based on their global portfolio and risk assessment.