(Oil Price) – Saipem has won a $1.9-billion contract from TotalEnergies for engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) at the $10.5-billion GranMorgu oil project offshore Suriname, the Italian engineering group said on Thursday.
Saipem will work on the engineering, procurement, supply, construction, installation, pre-commissioning, and assistance for the commissioning and start-up of the Subsea Umbilicals, Risers and Flowlines (SURF) package at the project, which TotalEnergies progressed last month.
In October, TotalEnergies announced the final investment decision for the GranMorgu development of the fields off the coast of Suriname which are estimated to hold recoverable reserves of more than 750 million barrels.
Total investment in the project is estimated at around $10.5 billion, with first oil expected in 2028.
The project includes a 220,000 barrels of oil per day Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit. The GranMorgu FPSO is designed to accommodate future tie-back opportunities that would extend its production plateau.
The GranMorgu project is the first major subsea development in Suriname, and it is aimed at expanding the production of the block central area through a system of subsea wells connected to the FPSO vessel, the contractor Saipem said today.
Exploration and resource development in the Atlantic Basin is now alive more than ever, following the huge developments offshore Guyana led by ExxonMobil and the plans of TotalEnergies to tap the discovered resources in Guyana’s neighbor, Suriname.
Suriname is often seen as a candidate for a repeat of Guyana’s oil boom since the two neighboring countries share one hydrocarbon basin.
Crude oil discoveries in Suriname have opened access to some 2.4 billion barrels in reserves, Wood Mackenzie analysts have estimated. The consultancy also reported the South American nation holds some 12.5 trillion cubic feet in natural gas reserves. A total of nine offshore discoveries have been made in Suriname in the last six years.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
