After announcing discovery after discovery from its massive Stabroek Block offshore the tiny South American nation of Guyana over the past three years, ExxonMobil XOM +0.6% announced on Friday that it has struck South American oil and gas once again, this time off the coast of Guyana’s neighboring country, Suriname.
In a statement, ExxonMobil Senior Vice President of exploration and new ventures, Mike Cousins, said “Our first discovery in Suriname extends ExxonMobil’s leading position in South America, building on our successful investments in Guyana, We will continue to leverage our deepwater expertise and advanced technology to explore frontier environments with the highest value resource potential.”
The company’s release also noted that “ExxonMobil said in November that it is prioritizing near-term capital spending on advantaged assets with the highest potential future value. The Suriname discovery further strengthens ExxonMobil’s industry-leading portfolio along with its other recent exploration success in the same basin in Guyana. “
Block 52 is similar in scale to the adjacent, 1.4 million acre Block 58, from which Apache Corp APA +0.1%, in partnership with Total, has announced a series of prolific discoveries over the past year. Apache and Total also own the lease rights on Block 53, which consists of an additional 870,000 acres. The partners have yet to drill a test well on Block 53.