Guyana, Suriname to collaborate on oil and gas development 

DPI, Guyana, Sunday, August 9, 2020

Guyana and Suriname, two emerging nations on the oil and gas front, have committed to lending support to each other to build capacity within the sector.

During a media engagement earlier today, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Hugh Todd disclosed that collaboration between the two nations was one of the areas discussed during the bilateral talks held between President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, His Excellency, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, and President of the Republic of Suriname, His Excellency, Chandrikapersad Santokhi.

“We’ll be looking at the oil and gas sector to see how we can conduct our collaborations, especially in terms of training,” Minster Todd said, highlighting Guyana’s need for more skilled professionals within the sector. 

Guyana and Suriname will also be collaborating on local content development.

This, Minister Todd said, will provide much-needed assistance to our private sector.

“This is important to allow our citizens from both countries to benefit from the oil and gas sector.” 

Oil was first discovered in Suriname in 1928, with systematic exploration both onshore and offshore starting in the early 1960s.

Following Guyana’s first oil discovery in May 2015, more than a dozen wells containing high quality, oil-bearing sandstone reservoir have been found. The total recoverable resource of Guyana’s Stabroek block to date amounts to more than 8 billion oil-equivalent barrels.

The country commenced oil production in December 2019 and sold its first three lifts of oil to Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited.