Suriname mulls incentives to speed up offshore oil and gas exploration: minister

Suriname is considering providing tax incentives to accelerate natural gas exploration in its offshore acreage, as competition rises for capital to develop oil and gas resources in Latin America in the wake of the war in Iran, Patrick Brunings, Minister of Oil, Gas and Environment, said in an interview.

"That's one of my goals, to have more activities in gas," Brunings told Platts, part of S&P Global Energy in Buenos Aires ahead of the Arpel energy conference, running June 1-4. "We're going to try and find ways to incentivize that."

The incentives could include tax breaks.

"We will do it in such a way that, for instance, the first companies that are taking the risk, they get some more advantages," Brunings said.

The companies working in the country -- TotalEnergies, Chevron, Shell, Petronas and PetroChina -- have been focused so far on unlocking oil in Suriname's estimated 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent in undiscovered resources.

Brunings said there is potential for gas as well. Petronas found gas in the Sloanea field in late 2025.

"When they discovered gas, they were drilling for oil and they found a formation of gas," Brunings said. "We knew based on the data that we had that there was a [likelihood ] that there would be more gas around that well, and that's why we pushed for Petronas to drill another appraisal for gas."

The minister called the appraisal well "fantastic."

Transition fuel

The Suriname government will push for more gas exploration, given the potential for exports and domestic use as a transition fuel to a clean-energy future, including with the tax incentives that could be announced "very soon," Brunings said.

While he did not provide any details on what these could entail, the minister said they will be important for Suriname to compete for capital in Latin America, where more investment is flowing as the US-Iran war disrupts oil and gas deliveries out of the Middle East.

This is putting producers in the Americas in a good position to meet this demand, with output rising in Argentina, Brazil and Guyana. Venezuela, home to the world's largest proven oil reserves, is poised to grow again as private investors move back in after years of state control.

Competing for capital

One way to compete for this capital is the low carbon footprint for new production, which is where Suriname has an advantage because it is building the industry with new infrastructure and new vessels, all with the latest technology.

"We will be able to produce with a very, very low carbon footprint," which is a growing demand of consumers, Brunings said.

Suriname's lifting costs are also low at less than $20/barrel, meaning that producers can sustain output even at times of low crude prices, while the third factor is the premium quality of the oil and gas, he said. The oil, for example, has almost no sulfur content, making it attractive for refiners, and the gas has a low content of CO2.

"These are three factors that give us all the confidence that we can stay competitive and we can be that place to continue to supply even under extreme conditions, to be able to continue to supply even at almost any price of oil," Brunings said.

The plans for incentives come as Suriname holds an open-door licensing round with the aim of announcing new exploration bids in deep waters -- the focus on big companies already in the country -- and shallow waters for smaller firms with lower budgets.