By Ivan Cairo
Caribbean Net News Suriname Correspondent
Email: ivan@caribbeannetnews.com
PARAMARIBO, Suriname: Suriname’s state-owned oil company Staatsolie on Thursday signed a production sharing contract with US-based Murphy Oil Corporation. The documents were signed by Staatsolie general-manager Marc Waaldijk and Murphy Oil’s vice president Exploration & Production, Bruce Laws. The contract’s duration is set at 25 years.
According to company officials, the Suriname government will benefit from royalties, taxes and profits from Staatsolie if a commercial find has been established followed by production activities. The Surinamese oil company could participate by up to 20 percent in development activities.
“By participation, the revenues for the government will increase,” said Waaldijk at the signing ceremony here in Paramaribo.
He further noted that de cooperation with Murphy Oil is among steps taken by the company to transform itself into a much stronger and dynamic energy company in order to be a trend setter in the oil industry in Suriname.
Staatsolie is further aiming simultaneously to bring into production its onshore and offshore concessions by signing deals with reputable oil and gas companies, he further disclosed. Negotiation with the US oil company started in August 2006. According to officials, Murphy Oil will invest up to US$40 million in exploration and development.
Murphy Oil will carry out explorations in offshore Block 37, approximately 8,700 square kilometers, in the eastern part of Staatsolie’s offshore areas.
Murphy Oil was established in 1907 as a family enterprise and developed into a successful independent company in the oil industry with operations in the US, Canada, Ecuador, Malaysia and Congo with an oil production of 130,000 barrels per day.
It operates three refineries and the company operates a chain of retail gasoline outlets throughout the southeast and mid-west of the US marketed under the name Murphy USA, located at Wal-Mart locations. In 2007, it was ranked as the 169th largest company in America on the Fortune 500.
Staatsolie's crude production at the end of 2006 totaled 4.8 million from oilfields Tambaredjo and Calcutta. Average daily output last year was 13,160 barrels compared to 11,990 barrels in 2005. Last year, a total of 139 new development wells were drilled, of which 98 were completed into production wells and 41 were plugged and abandoned. At end-2006, 975 wells were in production.
In February 2007 Staatsolie signed a production and sharing contract for the onshore blocks with its subsidiary Paradise Oil in a joint venture with Hardman, a subsidiary of independent Tullow Oil. The contract's duration is set at 25 years from the end of the year in which the development plan of the first commercial field in each block is approved. | 
