Guyana keenly interested in gas partnership, shared infrastructure with Suriname

Suriname, Guyana’s eastern continental neighbour, is entering a new era of offshore oil and gas development.

Though Guyana supports the country’s new pursuits, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo Thursday said that the English-speaking nation remains keen on joint natural gas development and shared infrastructure with Suriname.

“We are looking forward to working on Suriname with synergies.

“The project [that Suriname inked recently] will focus a lot on oil so we still need to look at the development of gas.

“Suriname found a lot of gas, and our discoveries closer to the Suriname border have more gas in them, so we still need to collaborate,” Jagdeo said at a People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) press conference on Thursday.

A whopping US$10.5 billion investment for Suriname’s Block 58 oil and gas project was made this week. TotalEnergies and APA plan to develop the Sapakara and Krabdagu fields, renamed as “Gran Morgu”, with combined recoverable resources estimated above 700 million barrels.

Suriname is moving ahead with this project and Guyana remains optimistic that the two countries will collaborate more in several areas, including oil and gas development.

The Vice President disclosed that he has engaged Suriname’s Foreign Minister Albert Randim about meeting soon to talk about the Guyana/ Suriname partnership.

Outside of oil and gas, he said shared infrastructure is another focus.

“We are looking forward to working with them in the future and also to what kinds of shared infrastructure we can have because we are two contiguous countries, the only two contiguous countries in CARICOM,” Jagdeo said.

Already, the two countries are partnering with each other to push joint development be it in manufacturing or agro-processing. The new Corentyne River Bridge is also expected to push partnerships between the two states.