Guyana-Suriname Basin — subsurface mapping experience.

Overview

The Guyana-Suriname basin is the most significant new offshore petroleum province of the last decade. Exxon's 2015 Liza discovery opened a play that now encompasses 30+ commercial discoveries in the Stabroek block alone, with estimated recoverable resources north of 11 billion BOE. The basin extends across Guyana, Suriname, and into adjacent waters.

Much of the basin remains underexplored. Peripheral blocks — in the Orinduik, Kanuku, and Demerara regions — have been licensed but not yet drilled at commercial scale. The adjacent Suriname blocks (Block 58, Block 52, and others) have seen major Apache/TotalEnergies and Petronas discoveries but remain comparatively early-stage.

Remote NMR mapping has been deployed in the Guyana-Suriname basin for pre-drill screening of undrilled peripheral blocks, analog-based prospectivity assessment calibrated against the Stabroek discovery sequence, and farm-in/farm-out diligence in a basin where license interests are actively trading.

Mapping considerations

Basin-specific technical context:

• Shallow to deep-water settings. Water depths range from 300 m on the shelf to 2,500+ m in the deep basin. Sub-seabed target depths typically 3,000–5,500 m.
• Turbidite-dominated reservoirs. Primary targets are Cretaceous turbidite systems sourced from the Amazon and paleo-Orinoco systems. Reservoir quality varies significantly across the basin.
• Strong regional calibration. 30+ discoveries across Stabroek and Suriname Block 58 provide extensive calibration data for signature library tuning.
• Active M&A. License interests trade frequently; pre-bid and pre-transaction screening is especially valuable.

Typical use cases in this basin

• Pre-license screening in adjacent undrilled blocks
• Analog prospectivity mapping based on Stabroek calibration
• Farm-in and farm-out diligence
• Sequence-specific target identification (Liza / Payara / Yellowtail analogs)
• Risked portfolio ranking across multi-block positions