NIEUWEGEIN, The Netherlands—State oil company Staatsolie has awarded Ballast Nedam the contract for the general civil- and steel piling works for the Refinery Expansion Project. The purpose of the Refinery Expansion Project is to double the processing capacity at Tout Lui Faut Refinery to 15,000 barrels a day when completed.

The contract for Ballast Nedam includes the supply and installation of 373 steel piles, the processing of approximately 28,800 cubic meters of concrete, and the associated earthworks for the foundations of the expansion of the refinery. The contract for Ballast Nedam has a value of approximately € 25 million. Work on site is due to commence in April 2012 and to be completed in June 2013.

A press release from Ballast Nedam says that Ballast Nedam integrates all working processes in the entire chain, thereby ensuring the highest level of coordination for our clients. Chain integration is made possible in this project thanks to the network of specialist companies in the Ballast Nedam family. Ballast Nedam Engineering and Ballast Nedam Foundations are responsible for a significant part of the structural work.

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PARAMARIBO–Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie is clocking a record this year. CEO Marc Waaldijk expects some US$ 700 million in income, more than US$ 560 million more than 2008.

“2011 is our best year ever, if we look at turnover,” Waaldijk says. World oil prices have turned out profitable, in particular in the last couple of year, even while production levels remained the same. The company still produces 16,000 barrels per day. “That’s a strategic choice. We want to be sure of the reserves; only then can we look at producing bigger quantities,” says Waaldijk.

2010 already was a good year for the company. High crude oil prices on the world market then already translated in a 32 percent windfall –US$ 566 million- over 2010. The company then sold no less than 7,3 million barrels of oil products locally (45 percent) and internationally (55 percent).

Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. is one of Suriname’s biggest earners. The company was founded in December 1980 and is involved in all aspects of exploration, production, refining and marketing of crude oil and refined products. In June 2010 petroleum operations began onshore in the District of Saramacca, 45 kilometers west of Paramaribo. In 2010 the company invested no less than US$ 11o million in exploration, expansion and diversification efforts. Crude oil production totaled 5.8 million barrels, at a daily production of 16,000 barrels. The company also commissioned 93 new wells in 2010.

The company this year signed exploration contracts with two multinationals, the most recent with Texan oil and gas firm Kosmos Energy, which signed on to explore two blocks offshore Suriname. The Blocks 42 and 45 cover a total area of nearly three million gross acres, in water depths of between 650ft and 8,500ft.

TEXAS/PARAMARIBO–Texan oil and gas firm Kosmos Energy has signed production sharing contracts with state oil company Staatsolie, for two blocks offshore Suriname. The Blocks 42 and 45 cover a total area of nearly three million gross acres, in water depths of between 650ft and 8,500ft.

Neither of the blocks has previously been drilled and Kosmos will operate these blocks with a 100% working interest, the company announced in a press release. Under each of the two contracts, Kosmos intends to acquire 3D seismic data in the initial exploration phase.

First drilling is expected to begin as early as 2014, and the addition of the acreage is the company’s first acreage acquisition outside of West Africa.

Dallas headquartered Kosmos Energy is an international oil exploration and production company focused on West Africa. The company is credited with discovering the Jubilee Field in Ghana’s deep waters, one of the largest oil discoveries worldwide in 2007 and the biggest find offshore West Africa during the last decade. Subsequently, the company has made several additional oil discoveries in Ghana.

PARAMARIBO–The announcement this week by oil exploration company Tullow Oil plc that its Zaedyus exploration well has made an oil discovery offshore French Guiana, has increased hopes at Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie of finding oil off Suriname as well. “We have to search farther and deeper,” Exploration Director Wim Dwarkasing is quoted by De Ware Tijd daily on Tuesday.

Aside from its exploration interests in French Guiana and Guyana, Tullow also has a Sharing Contract with Staatsolie, but so far its offshore exploration here has come up short.  But, said Tullow on September 9th, “the find off French Guiana reduces the exploration risk associated with prospect inventory offshore Suriname and Guyana.” An appraisal program and extensive follow-up exploration activities will now be considered, according to management of the company.

The Zaedyus well is being drilled in the Guyane Maritime license with a deep-water semi-submersible. The well was drilled in water depths of 2,048 meters and has been drilled to a depth of 5,711 meters. Angus McCoss, Tullow’s Exploration Director, stated in a press release that the discovery at Zaedyus has proved the extension of the “Jubilee-play” from across exploration fields off Africa . “Tullow has built a commanding and unique acreage position in South America and this result marks the start of a significant and potentially transformational long-term exploration and appraisal campaign in the region,” McCoss said. He ventures that there are at least a dozen more of these types of geological systems near the He ventures that there are at least a dozen more of these types of geological systems near the Zaedyus field. “The chance that we’ll find more oil in this area has increased.” Drilling operations will now continue and the well will be deepened to over 6,000 meters to calibrate the deeper geology.

Staatsolie exploration director  Dwarkasing said that so far, off Suriname’s shores, the exploration has stuck close to the coast, at depths of 100 to 5,000 meters. There were indications of oil reserves, which are now confirmed by the find off French Guiana. In October Staatsolie will start 2D seismic exploration in the farthest corner of Suriname’s territorial waters, near French Guiana.

 PARAMARIBO–Even while efforts to produce refined oil products will cut Suriname’s import bill, they’re not likely to meet the country’s total demand, an international monitor has said.

Emerging markets specialists Business Monitor International (BMI) has said in its Oil & Gas Industry Report of July 2011 that Suriname’s plans to boost refinery capacity are an important step towards improving the country’s trade balance. “But rapid oil product demand growth means that even this expansion is likely to be inadequate to meet demand by the time it comes onstream,” the report stated. It didn’t give suggestions on how the demand can be met though.

BMI reports: “Suriname’s domestic production potential has increased the attractiveness of refining capacity expansion vis-à-vis fuel imports. Importantly, the wider product range of the newly expanded refinery will include gasoline, a product on which Suriname is currently fully import-reliant. With Suriname’s oil product consumption continuing to grow rapidly, it is unlikely that an expansion to 15,000 barrels per day will make the country self-sufficient in refined products.”

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Taken from ISRIA

PARAMARIBO–Indonesia is exploring the possibility of cooperation in the oil industry with Suriname. Efforts are being made to establish contact between Indonesia’s state oil company Pertamina and Suriname’s oil and gas company Staatsolie. That was the essence of a recent meeting between Indonesian Ambassador to Suriname, Nur Syahrir Rahardjo and Managing Director of Staatsolie, Marc C.H. Waaldijk, at Staatsolie’s Head Office in Paramaribo.

“We told them about the oil and gas industry in Indonesia and the progress made by Pertamina in its efforts to establish cooperation with oil and gas companies from various countries, including Suriname,” explained Ambassador Nur Syahrir.

The Ambassador said that in the meeting, Staatsolie expressed its desire to establish cooperation with foreign oil and gas companies including from Indonesia. “The aim is to establish oil and gas exploration, both offshore and onshore,” explained the Ambassador.

In the nineties Staatsolie sent a number of their staff to take part in a training program sponsored by UNDP at Pertamina’s Training Center in Cepu, East Java. Waaldijk admitted that the program was one of the best in the world. “And it fits Staatsolie need quite well,” said Waaldijk. For the second contact, Ambassador Nur Syahrir proposed to invite the Suriname’s company to participate at the 8th International Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, and Refining Exhibition at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, Jakarta from 21-24 September 2011. “The invitation was well received. They were quite enthusiastic to visit the expo and to learn firsthand the seismic technology used by Pertamina to conduct oil and gas exploration,” said the Ambassador.

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PARAMARIBO–High crude oil prices on the world market have translated in a 32 percent windfall –US$ 566 million- for state oil company Staatsolie over 2010. A press release from the company reports that the 2010 gross income was US$ 291 million, just US$ 10 million below the company’s US$ 576 million record. The release, which reported that the company’s year books have been approved by the General Meeting of Shareholders on Monday, also stated that Staatsolie  sold no less than 7,3 million barrels of oil products locally (45 percent) and internationally (55 percent) in 2010.

The release stated that the company expects to at least equal the 2010 results in 2011. “We expect Staatsolie’s gross income to further grow this year, due to the record oil prices that are forecast,” the release said. It said the company plans to continue its focus on investments in exploration on and offshore.  The average price for crude oil was US$ 71,82 per barrel in 2010, as opposed to US$ 57,66 in 2009. Staatsolie contributed US$ 195 to the nation’s coffers in 2010;  US$ 101 million in profit tax and US$ 94 million in interest.

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PARAMARIBO–State oil company Staatsolie is acquiring all gas stations of US headquartered Chevron; taking over the 20 gas stations that now operate under the Texaco brand, as well as the two storage depots, fits well into company expansion strategies, Staatsolie reported in a press release Thursday. The company’s new refinery should be operational by 2014; by acquiring the gas stations Staatsolie will have its own distribution network.

According to the release Staatsolie is set to conquer the fuel market as of 2014. When the refinery is commissioned, the company will be able to produce high quality products such as diesel and gasoline. Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem S.p.A., signed on in 2010 for the construction of the refinery that should double enable production of high-end products like diesel and gasoline for the local consumers, thereby increasing company and country income. The release says that the company strategy is aimed at owning the marketshare for Suriname’s largest energy consumption.

It said that the acquisition of the Chevron gas stations should be completed within a year. Government, the largest shareholder, has already approved the deal. How much money is involved wasn’t reported. “The deal was preceded by months of intense negotiations and thorough examination of Chevron Suriname,” the release stated.

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American investment firms are assuming a “wait and see” position on the development of stock of Murphy Oil, the partner of Staatsolie Oil Company that announced recently that a second well off Suriname’s coast has come up dry. Murphy Oil’s striking out in its Suriname exploration efforts has dampened the company’s hopes for frontier South America play.

But financial analysts remain neutral. “Murphy oil is presently working to expand its operations globally. The company is continuing with its North American oil and natural gas development work in Tupper West and Eagle Ford Shale. Meanwhile the company continues to drill in Wildcat, Indonesia and has plans to start drilling offshore Brunei in the latter half of the year. We appreciate Murphy’s initiatives to downsize its downstream operations in the U.S. and U.K. with a view to re-focus on its upstream business. The shares of Murphy retain a short-term Zacks #3 Rank (Hold) that corresponds with our long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock,” Zacks Equity Research wrote.

Investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs also announced a Neutral rating following Murphy’s earnings report. In a note to investors, Goldman writes, “While we think Murphy shares offer investors meaningful absolute share price upside in the context of our bullish crude oil view, we remain Neutral-rated relative …,” Goldman Sachs announced.

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PARAMARIBO, Suriname–Staatsolie, Suriname’s State Oil Company last Saturday marked its 30th anniversary.

Director Mark Waaldijk in his anniversary speech, called on “everybody” to contribute to the company’s further growth. “We want to help make Suriname a prosperous country. We need to take the way we do business to an even higher level. Our country’s Governments have always supported us and given us the elbow room to do what we needed to do and employees put their best feet forward and displayed inventiveness. They have worked tirelessly, so it is through them and with the support from the community that we can today call ourselves the pride of our nation.”

Staatsolie’s refinery

Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V. was founded on 13 December 1980. The company is involved in all aspects of exploration, production, refining and marketing of crude oil and refined products. In June 2010 the company signed on with Italian oil and gas industry contractor Saipem S.p.A., for the construction of a refinery that should double production to 15,000 barrels a day and enable production of high-end products like diesel and gasoline for the local consumers, thereby increasing company and country income. Staatsolie’s petroleum operations began onshore in the District of Saramacca, 45 kilometers west of Paramaribo.

The company’s crude production in 2009 totaled 5.9 million barrels, with an average daily production of 16,000 barrels of oil. Staatsolie’s financial performance is good; the economic indexes and a steady growth prove this. An investment program was formulated for the strategic planning period 2008-2012 having a value of US$ 1 billion. The internal cash flow finances US$ 680 million and US$ 320 million is obtained from external financing.