SBM Offshore’s Suriname-bound FPSO for TotalEnergies $12.2B oil project starts taking shape

France’s energy giant TotalEnergies is making strides in the development of the first-ever offshore oil field in Suriname. Progress has also been achieved in the construction of a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel destined for this project.

Following a final investment decision (FID) for the 12.2-billion GranMorgu offshore oil field in Block 58, located around 150 kilometers off Suriname’s coast, operated by TotalEnergies (50%) with APA Corporation (50%) as its partner, inroads have been made in bringing this project to life, with the offshore oil field development now at approximately 13%.

According to Suriname’s national oil company (NOC), Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname (Staatsolie), which embarked on a mission to get the money required to cover its part of the development costs and join the project earlier this year, the FPSO vessel for GranMorgu is under construction, with progress currently at 27%.

With the first oil expected in 2028, the company explains that production and injection wells will be drilled, subsea installations and pipelines will be laid, and modules will be installed on the FPSO in the coming years.

Staatsolie highlighted: “Developments in the offshore are anticipated to be significant in 2025 and beyond. Staatsolie made substantial progress in 2024 to secure funding for up to twenty percent participation in the GranMorgu project. According to current estimates, $2.4 billion is required for this. The necessary funds will be obtained through equity, bank loans, and new bond issuance. The bond issuance in March 2025 raised a total of $515.8 million.

“Negotiations with banks are in the final stages. Due to solid performance in recent years, good financial management, and sustainable relationships, Staatsolie has good access to international, regional, and local banks and investors to secure funding for the GranMorgu project.”

This project aims to develop resources on Block 58 within the Sapakara and Krabdagu fields. GranMorgu’s FPSO, with a capacity of 220,000 barrels per day, is based on the design principles of units in Guyana in the same type of environment.

The vessel has been designed to allow the future connection of satellite fields to extend the duration of its production plateau. TotalEnergies claims that local companies will contribute to logistics, well maintenance of the installations, as well as subsea and FPSO operations.

GranMorgu is said to have a double meaning in Sranan Tongo, the local language of Suriname, as it means not only ‘a great morning’ or ‘new dawn,’ but it also refers to the goliath grouper, a fish found in the country’s coastal waters that symbolizes strength and longevity, and is said by some South American and Caribbean Amerindian communities to possess supernatural powers.

The project is perceived to be fully in line with the French oil major’s strategy of developing low-emission, low-cost oil and gas projects, since it has a scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity of less than 16 kg CO2e/boe. The reduction in the carbon footprint will be achieved with the help of new technologies to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

These technologies entail an all-electric FPSO, with no routine flaring and including the ability to reinject all associated gas into the tanks; optimized energy consumption thanks to a waste heat recovery unit and a seawater cooling system; and a permanent system for detecting and measuring methane emissions through the installation of a network of sensors.

TotalEnergies selected SBM Offshore and Technip Energies to handle the work related to GranMorgu’s FPSO, shortly after hand-picking Scotland’s ADC Energy for the rig selection process to unlock recoverable reserves estimated at over 750 million barrels in water depths between 100 and 1,000 meters.

In addition, TechnipFMC got a $1 billion contract for the project while Saipem won a $1.9 billion deal, enabling both players to work on Suriname’s first oil development. This country in northern South America, considered part of the Caribbean and the West Indies, is determined to up its hydrocarbon exploration ante.

To this end, an agreement was signed with Malaysia’s Petronas in 2024 to further explore the 2020 gas discovery in Block 52, leading to the Sloanea-2 exploration well and production test. The Malaysian firm is now starting pre-development activities to assess the feasibility of a commercial gas field, with the FID anticipated as early as the end of 2026.

The company confirmed a discovery with the Fusaea-1 well in Block 52 in May 2024. Staatsolie underlines that this discovery is being studied to determine the reservoir and potential development alongside previous discoveries, with two new exploration wells on the drilling agenda in 2025.

Last September, PetroChina inked production sharing contracts (PSCs) for offshore blocks 14 and 15, marking the commencement of operations by a new international company in Surinamese waters. Staatsolie, through its subsidiary Paradise Oil Company (POC), holds a 30% interest in both blocks.

Suriname’s NOC reiterates that five exploration wells will be drilled in various blocks this year, with Macaw-1 in Block 64 being the first.

As the operational activities for these wells and those for the GranMorgu project will be carried out from Suriname starting in 2026, Staatsolie underscores that this represents a significant positive economic spin-off through the deployment of local labor and the procurement of goods and services.