Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname NV announced the launch of the Demerara Bid Round 2022 with the data room open from 28 November 2022 until 28 April 2023. The deadline to submit applications for bids will be 31 May 2023. Staatsolie stated that the company will have rights for a maximum of 20% participation in commercial development in the acreage. Six blocks are on offer and located northeast of discoveries made in blocks 58 and 53 at water depths ranging from 400 to 3,500 m.

The bid round's name is derived from the geologically defined structure known as the Demerara Plateau where the northeastern blocks on offer are located. The acreage on offer is underexplored and, thus, the prospectivity of the region has yet to be tested.

The earliest exploratory operations conducted in the acreage was undertaken by ExxonMobil in 1978 when the Demerara A2-1 New Field Wildcat (NFW) was drilled in Block 66, however, it did not encounter hydrocarbons. In 2012 and 2015, Tullow Oil conducted 3D seismic surveys in blocks 64 (formerly Block 47) and 65 (formerly Block 54) respectively. Also in 2012, a 2D seismic survey was conducted by CGG over blocks 66, 67, and 68 though no further exploratory operations were made afterwards. In 2017, a NFW called Araku 1 was drilled in Block 65 by Tullow and was reported as a sub-commercial gas discovery that proved the presence of an active petroleum system. The discovery was made in the Upper Cretaceous-aged reservoirs of the New Amsterdam Formation within stratigraphic and structural traps. Additionally, Kosmos Energy conducted a 3D survey in Block 45 in 2017. They followed up the survey with the drilling of the Anapai 1 NFW in 2018, though it did not encounter hydrocarbons. In 2021, Goliathberg Voltzberg North 1 NFW was drilled by Tullow in Block 64 and was reported to have encountered hydrocarbon shows.

This article was published by S&P Global Commodity Insights and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.