Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Country to get 36% of gross revenue
…Suriname’s oil deal
The Republic of Suriname is set to rake in 35.84% of the gross revenue from oil production in Block 58 – a lucrative deep-water concession, near its border with Guyana.
Eddie Jharap, former Managing Director of the state-owned oil company, Staatsolie, made this projection in a publication yesterday.
Features of the agreement include 6.25% royalty on gross production and a 36% income tax on the company’s profit oil for the people of Suriname.
The oil companies on the block, Apache and Total, both have a 50% working interest.
The Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) was signed in 2015 with Apache. Total farmed in late last year with a US$100M signing bonus paid to Apache. The agreement has a 30-year validity period.
The value of the block has been propelled by discoveries made by ExxonMobil in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana.
Oil companies operating in the Guyana-Suriname basin have been working relentlessly to replicate ExxonMobil’s successful finds. Total and Apache have been lucky to make three oil finds this year, with the most recent one announced just days ago. They have moved on to a fourth prospect.
Staatsolie, from the terms of the agreement, is allowed a maximum stake of 20% for participation, in which case, Suriname’s projected revenue share would jump from 35.84% to 43.39%.
“Staatsolie is in extremely interesting times,” Staatsolie’s current Managing Director Rudolf Elias told an energy conference in Trinidad in February.
Meanwhile, the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) Guyana signed in Guyana has received international condemnation for its lopsided fiscal terms in favour of ExxonMobil and its partners, Hess and CNOOC. Guyana’s projected share of gross Stabroek Block revenues is less than half the share Suriname is set to get, despite the fact that the Stabroek Block is leagues more lucrative.
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