First of four wells in drilling campaign offshore Suriname checked off the list

December 29, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

Petronas Suriname, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s state-owned oil and gas company Petronas, has crossed the finish line for the first well in a multi-well drilling campaign off the coast of Suriname.

Petronas’ partner and Suriname’s national oil company (NOC), Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname (Staatsolie), has confirmed the completion of the drilling of the Caiman-1 exploration well in Block 52, which covers approximately 4,750 square kilometers in water depths ranging from 60 to 1,000 meters and lies about 140 kilometers offshore from Suriname’s coast.

Map of Suriname’s offshore acreage blocks; Source: Staatsolie

The well was spudded on July 21, 2025, and plugged and abandoned on December 6, 2025, delivering what is considered to be encouraging results at the first in the four-well 2025-2026 drilling campaign in Block 52.

“This marks a key milestone in Petronas Suriname’s exploration and appraisal drilling program, aimed at further delineating resources and assessing development concepts towards a commercial project in Block 52,” explained Staatsolie.

The drilling activities for the well, drilled in the western part of Block 52, were supported from port facilities (shore base) in Suriname, ensuring that materials, fuel, and provisions were supplied locally from Paramaribo.

The personnel were transported to and from the drilling platform via Suriname, reinforcing local content and creating opportunities for Surinamese suppliers of goods and services. This came after Petronas and Staatsolie announced the declaration of commerciality (DoC) of the Sloanea field in Block 52.

The Malaysian giant is active on many energy realms, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), which recently enabled the firm to expand its ties with CNOOC through an LNG agreement.