French and US companies to invest $10 billion to extract oil off Suriname's coast

abcnews.go.com:

Officials say that France’s TotalEnergies and U.S. hydrocarbon company APA Corp. plan to invest $10 billion to extract oil off the coast of Suriname in a historic investment for the South American country

PARAMARIBO, Suriname — France’s TotalEnergies and U.S. hydrocarbon company APA Corp. plan to invest $10 billion to extract oil off the coast of Suriname in a historic investment for the South American country, officials announced Tuesday.

The first oil is expected by mid-2028, with an anticipated production of 220,000 barrels per day, according to TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, who flew to Suriname to personally announce the investment, the country’s largest to date.

The so-called GranMorgu project focuses on an offshore area believed to contain some 700 million barrels of oil. It is adjacent to a successful ExxonMobil project in waters belonging to neighboring Guyana.

“Today is a historic day for Suriname,” said a jubilant President Chan Santokhi, calling it “a day that will determine our future.”

TotalEnergies will partner with APA Corp, a holding company for Apache Corporation, a Texas-based hydrocarbon exploration business, and Staatsolie, the local national oil producer representing the Surinamese government.

Staatsolie plans to issue bonds in 2025 to finance its participation, since it is entitled to a 20% stake under the production sharing contract. The company secured an initial $175 million payment and is now in talks with banks and planning a bond offer to complete a second payment, Jagesar said.

Santokhi said the anticipated revenue from the project would be used to raise the standard of living in Suriname, a country of more than 640,000 people with a poverty rate of 18%, according to the Inter-American