Hess exits Suriname’s Block 59 after seismic study yields no drill targets, handing acreage back to Staatsolie

Why is Hess relinquishing Suriname’s Block 59 and what does it mean for future offshore exploration?

Hess Corporation’s Suriname II Exploration subsidiary will relinquish Block 59 in offshore Suriname on 8 July 2025, officially returning the ultra-deepwater acreage to Staatsolie after completing minimum work commitments but failing to secure viable drilling prospects or new partners. The decision follows the exit of previous consortium members—ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V. and Equinor Suriname B59 B.V.—in mid-2024, leaving Hess as the sole stakeholder in the high-risk block. With no economically justifiable targets identified despite years of seismic acquisition, Hess has opted not to advance to the next phase of the Production Sharing Contract (PSC), signed in 2017.

Block 59’s relinquishment reflects a broader recalibration among international oil and gas companies evaluating frontier exploration assets in the context of capital discipline, portfolio optimization, and rising development costs. Situated in the far northwest of Suriname’s offshore zone, the 11,480 square kilometer block lies in water depths ranging from 2,700 to 3,500 meters—among the deepest in the region. After acquiring 6,000 kilometers of 2D seismic and 9,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic data, neither Hess nor its former partners deemed the risk–reward ratio favorable enough to drill an exploration well.

How does Hess’s withdrawal from Block 59 impact Staatsolie’s offshore development strategy?

The exit of Hess from Block 59 adds a sizable deepwater tract to Staatsolie’s uncontracted acreage pool, giving Suriname’s national oil company an opportunity to repackage the area for future licensing rounds or strategic outreach to international exploration and production firms. Staatsolie has publicly stated its ambition to bring as much of the country’s offshore acreage under contract as possible, with approximately 50 percent of the offshore zone currently covered by PSCs.

Block 59’s return will require Staatsolie to reassess its approach to high-risk deepwater offerings. While Blocks 58 and 52 have generated commercially promising results—particularly with TotalEnergies and APA Corporation’s Krabdagu and Sapakara South finds—other blocks, including Block 59, have highlighted the geological heterogeneity of the basin. For Staatsolie, a potential pivot could involve integrating more advanced subsurface data, enhanced fiscal incentives, or tieback infrastructure concepts into future bid rounds to attract capital and technical expertise.

What were the exploration results and partner exits that preceded Hess’s full control of the block?

Originally signed in July 2017, the PSC for Block 59 brought together ExxonMobil, Statoil (later Equinor), and Hess in a three-way partnership aimed at testing Suriname’s deepwater frontier potential. The consortium collectively invested in seismic surveys over a five-year period, with 2D and 3D data suggesting some promising structures but not enough to justify immediate drilling commitments.

By July 2024, both ExxonMobil and Equinor had reassessed their risk exposure and chose to withdraw from the block, transferring their stakes to Hess. This left Hess as the sole licensee and operator—a rare position in ultra-deepwater exploration, typically characterized by risk-sharing joint ventures. Industry sources suggest Hess attempted to farm out stakes to potential partners over the following year, but interest remained tepid amid growing investor caution and portfolio constraints across the upstream sector.

Without a new partner to share costs and technical risk, and in light of mounting pressures to optimize exploration capital globally, Hess chose to meet its PSC obligations without entering the next phase. Its decision underscores the challenge of unlocking marginal acreage even in basins adjacent to prolific discoveries.

What is the broader context of exploration in Suriname’s offshore basin compared to neighboring Guyana?

Suriname’s offshore ambitions are intrinsically tied to the Guyana-Suriname Basin, a region that gained global attention after ExxonMobil’s Stabroek Block discoveries in Guyana beginning in 2015. That acreage now holds over 11 billion barrels of recoverable resources and underpins one of the fastest-growing offshore production hubs in the world.

Suriname, sharing the same basin and structural trends, has had mixed results. While Block 58 has delivered oil discoveries with commercial potential, translating those into production has been slower than anticipated. By contrast, other areas—including Block 53 and Block 59—have fallen short of expectations despite early optimism and significant investment.

Institutional investors and analysts remain cautiously optimistic about Suriname’s longer-term potential but note that the exploration narrative is becoming more segmented. Interest is strongest in blocks adjacent to proven finds or shallow-to-midwater zones where development economics are more favorable. Meanwhile, ultra-deepwater blocks like 59 may need either better data support or macroeconomic tailwinds to draw renewed interest.

How does the Hess exit fit into its global strategy and pending Chevron acquisition?

The decision to relinquish Block 59 also dovetails with Hess Corporation’s broader portfolio rationalization, especially in light of its $53 billion all-stock acquisition by Chevron Corporation, announced in 2023 and expected to close later in 2025. Chevron has a stated preference for scale, capital efficiency, and proven assets—criteria that Block 59 did not meet in its current form.

With its existing 30 percent stake in Guyana’s Stabroek Block already yielding significant cash flows, Hess has been aligning its asset base to match both shareholder priorities and Chevron’s strategic vision. Analysts interpret the Block 59 exit as a move to clear non-core assets ahead of integration, which could also help mitigate capital drag during the merger transition.

Investor sentiment remains largely neutral to positive on the move. While the exit removes a speculative growth option, it reinforces Hess’s capital discipline and allows management to refocus on high-value producing assets. The lack of a partner or drill prospect in Block 59 likely made the asset a strategic outlier under both Hess’s and Chevron’s internal investment frameworks.

Will Staatsolie relist Block 59 and are new licensing structures likely for deepwater zones?

With Block 59 officially returned to Staatsolie’s inventory, the next question is whether the national oil company will relist the acreage as part of a future bid round. Energy observers expect Staatsolie to revisit its offshore licensing strategy, especially for deeper water zones with limited prior drilling. Enhancements could include increased data availability, longer exploratory terms, or fiscal sweeteners to compensate for risk.

The government of Suriname has expressed continued interest in expanding offshore development, not just for potential export revenue but also to build local capacity and energy infrastructure. However, this ambition must be weighed against increasingly selective investment appetites from international oil and gas companies—many of which are prioritizing lower-cost, faster-cycle opportunities or transitioning toward gas and renewables portfolios.

In this context, Staatsolie may explore strategic collaborations with national oil companies from other regions or mid-tier independents that specialize in frontier plays. Another option could be bundling data and acreage in a multi-block package, potentially tied to joint research or infrastructure commitments.

What does the Block 59 exit say about the challenges of frontier basin exploration today?

Hess’s relinquishment of Block 59 brings into sharp relief the reality of frontier exploration in the 2020s: high-cost, high-risk plays without clear commercial outcomes are becoming increasingly hard to justify—even for well-capitalized firms. While some offshore frontiers continue to attract attention (such as Namibia, Brazil, and parts of Southeast Asia), the threshold for investment has shifted materially.

The era of speculative drilling based on seismic structures alone has given way to more integrated models involving basin modeling, analog comparisons, and infrastructure-led exploration. In this paradigm, areas like Block 59—remote, deep, and data-rich but undrilled—may sit idle unless reframed with better technology, incentives, or partnerships.

For Staatsolie and Suriname, the message is not one of retreat but recalibration. The long-term geological promise of the basin remains, but near-term exploration economics demand sharper targeting, more attractive commercial terms, and a collaborative engagement model that matches current investor expectations.