Guyana, Suriname should explore natural gas opportunities together – Santokhi

…pushes creation of free economic zone

The prospect of further collaboration between Guyana and Suriname was raised by Surinamese President Chandrikapersad Santokhi, while speaking at the 2023 International Energy Conference and Expo on Tuesday. According to Santokhi, the two countries should partner to explore natural gas opportunities together.
According to the neighbouring Head of State in his virtual presentation, Suriname’s gas exploration activities have so far not been profitable. He noted, however, that the war in Ukraine changed the situation, and his country’s resources can now offer a solution.
“The extraction of Surinamese gas was so far not profitable. However, the war in Ukraine changed the situation and Surinamese gas can offer a solution. Suriname and Guyana should explore these opportunities together by developing a joint programme.”
“Suriname and Guyana will share expertise and resources, save costs, reduce risk, improve our relation, and develop the border areas… to increase production and also promote greater transparency and accountability,” Santokhi added.
Moreover, Santokhi noted that his country is open to doing business in all streams of the oil and gas sector, sharing that the industry plays a vital role in the economic development of the country.
The President added that Suriname is also currently in the process of developing its offshore oil and gas resources to provide energy security, which will create jobs and promote economic growth.
According to Santokhi, this industrial development has the ability to catalyse new economic opportunities. He added that the concept of creating a Free Economic Zone (FEZ) can also be explored. This will create a hub from the Caribbean Region to South America, by air and by sea.
“We must make fundamental decisions for such a strategic energy cooperation between Suriname, Guyana and Brazil. We bonded our investment ideas by signing of cooperation agreement, the bridge over the Corentyne River and water transportation will open our gates for expansion with our Brazilian neighbours… and cross-border field developments are common throughout the global oil and gas industry.”
“It is now time to step up our giant activities and interactions so that we can take advantage of the opportunities that currently exists. We must bring together all the media, public and private sector stakeholders across the entire energy value chain to lead this planet to sustainable development,” Santokhi posited.

Energy corridor
Work has been progressing on an energy corridor initiative that would involve Guyana and Suriname, as well as other countries. Last year, President Dr Irfaan Ali was in attendance at the Suriname Energy, Oil & Gas Summit & Exhibition, where he had disclosed that a regional energy strategy that would connect the oil and natural gas producers in the Region is being crafted.
At the time, the Guyanese leader had said that while Guyana, Suriname and Brazil had already started talks on combining their ability to create an energy corridor and unlock the potential for a series of manufacturing and industrial development, Trinidad is also interested in working along with them in unlocking some of this potential.
There has been talk of an energy corridor for some time, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) conducting both baseline and pre-feasibility studies. Guyana is in fact a party to a Memorandum of Understanding on the Northern Arc (Arco Norte) Interconnection Project which seeks to evaluate the feasibility of a possible collaboration on the energy transmission system for the electric interconnection of Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and the northern cities of Brazil.
Guyana, with estimated recoverable natural gas reserves of over 17 trillion standard cubic feet, is likely to have the capacity to export as much as 50 million standard cubic feet of gas per day at some point in the future.
For perspective, this would make Guyana second only to Venezuela in the Region when it comes to estimated gas reserves. And Guyana is planning to make full use of its gas, formulating a gas utilisation plan and continuing work on the transformative gas-to-energy project.
The scope of Guyana’s gas-to-energy project consists of the construction of 225 kilometres of pipeline from the Liza field in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, where Exxon and its partners are currently producing oil.
It features approximately 200 kilometres of a subsea pipeline offshore that will run from theLiza Destiny and Liza Unity floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels in the Stabroek Block to the shore. Upon landing on the West Coast Demerara shore, the pipeline would continue for approximately 25 kilometres to a Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara. (G3)