TotalEnergies (TTE.PA) is preparing to drill an exploration well in Suriname’s offshore Block 64 as early as May 2025, a move that extends a $10.5 billion development commitment and could add materially to the supermajor’s long-term reserve base.
For long-horizon investors, the dual-track campaign – one exploration well in a new block, one giant development project already under way – signals that TotalEnergies views Suriname as a multi-decade production asset rather than a single-bet exploration play. 1
Key Takeaways
- Block 64 drilling set for May 2025; TotalEnergies holds 40% stake.
- Separate $10.5 billion Block 58 project targets first oil in 2028.
- Suriname holds an estimated 2.4 billion barrels of crude reserves.
Market Context & Reserve Backdrop
Suriname sits atop the same Guiana-Suriname Basin that powered ExxonMobil’s (XOM) Stabroek Block into one of the industry’s most celebrated deepwater successes of the past decade. Wood Mackenzie analysts estimate the country holds roughly 2.4 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and approximately 12.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – figures that put Suriname in the same conversation as Guyana, even if development timelines have lagged. 1
Nine offshore discoveries have been made in Suriname over the past six years, yet none has reached commercial production, leaving significant optionality on the table for early movers such as TotalEnergies. Peers including APA Corp (APA), QatarEnergy and Malaysia’s Petronas are all active in the basin, making competitive acreage positioning increasingly relevant to investors tracking frontier deepwater exposure.
Block 64: A Separate Exploration Bet
TotalEnergies’ vice president for exploration in the Americas said the company was finalising costs and logistics for the Block 64 well, with spudding targeted for May. 1 TotalEnergies operates Block 64 with a 40% working interest; QatarEnergy and Petronas each hold 30%, under a production-sharing contract signed with Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie in 2023.
The Block 64 programme is structurally distinct from, and additive to, the larger Block 58 development. Exploration success in Block 64 would widen TotalEnergies’ resource inventory in the basin without drawing on the capital already committed to Block 58.
The $10.5 Billion Block 58 Anchor
TotalEnergies sanctioned a $10.5 billion development plan for Block 58 last year, in partnership with APA Corp. 1 Staatsolie has said the project could sustain output for 20 to 25 years, with reserves in the area estimated at roughly 750 million barrels lying in water depths between 100 and 1,000 metres.
First oil from Block 58 is scheduled for 2028 – a timeline that puts meaningful production additions into TotalEnergies’ medium-term guidance window. The scale of that commitment is by far the largest single investment pledge in Suriname to date, framing TotalEnergies as the country’s anchor operator.
Outlook
“TotalEnergies will start drilling for oil and gas in Block 64 offshore Suriname in May,” a company executive told Reuters, adding that the company was “currently tallying the final tab for the project and organising the future well operations.” 1
The company’s two-pronged approach – locking in a giant development project on Block 58 while keeping the exploration drill-bit turning on Block 64 – mirrors the phased strategy ExxonMobil used to compound discoveries at Stabroek. Whether TotalEnergies can replicate that cadence will depend on subsurface results, but the capital and partnership structures are now in place to support a sustained campaign.
Conclusion
TotalEnergies is building a portfolio in Suriname that spans near-term development (Block 58, first oil 2028) and early-stage exploration (Block 64, spud May 2025), giving investors exposure to both production visibility and upside optionality in one of the world’s most active frontier basins. The Block 64 well results, expected later in 2025, will be a key catalyst for reassessing the scale of that upside.
Not investment advice. For informational purposes only.
References
1Slav, Irina (Jan 9, 2025). “TotalEnergies Prepares to Start Drilling in Suriname”. OilPrice.com. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
2(Jan 8, 2025). “TotalEnergies to drill exploration well in Suriname Block 64 in May, says country manager”. Reuters. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
3“TotalEnergies in Suriname”. TotalEnergies. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
4OilNOW (Jul 29, 2024). “TotalEnergies optimistic of meeting US$9B budget for Suriname development”. OilNOW via Facebook. Retrieved June 24, 2026.