TotalEnergies-led consortium conducting seismic survey in S4 Block offshore Guyana

Just over six months after signing the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with the Guyana Government, the TotalEnergies-QatarEnergy-PETRONAS consortium has already embarked on a seismic survey in the awarded shallow-water Block S4 offshore Guyana. This was revealed by Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, who expressed his satisfaction with the pace of progress being undertaken by the consortium.

“They’ve moved ahead to the stage where they’re actually doing the seismic survey right now,” the Minister disclosed during a recent appearance on the Starting Point programme. The consortium-comprising the state-owned QatarEnergy (35 per cent), French-based international petroleum company TotalEnergies (40 per cent, operator), and Malaysian national oil company PETRONAS (25 per cent)-was awarded the S4 Block under the 2022 Guyana Licensing Round, the country’s first-ever bid round. Block S4 spans approximately 1,788 square kilometres (km), located 50 to 100 km off Guyana’s coast in water depths ranging from 30 to 100 metres. Last November, the TotalEnergies-led consortium and the Government inked the PSA, which carries a signing bonus of US$15 million (G$3.1 billion)-an amount that has already been deposited in Guyana’s Natural Resources Fund (NRF) being held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As part of the process leading to the signing of the PSA, the consortium had submitted a work programme -something which the Natural Resources Minister said the Government was confident in, given the strong investment backing that these three partners bring to the table.

“They’re very reputable around the world… So, they have good backing. They have resources. They have ongoing operations around the world, and they can fund their own operations. We are very happy that they’re progressing in just a short period of time because…we would have signed this agreement in November with them. And they already have a vessel in Guyana waters shooting the seismic,” Bharrat stated. A seismic survey is the mapping of the ocean floor to locate potential hydrocarbon reserves, with the data obtained used to safely plan drilling operations.

According to the Minister, “We are pretty confident that once this data is analysed, and if they show good signs of hydrocarbons, then they will move to their exploration programme where they’ll start the exploration wells. Exploration wells are done based on that data. Then there are appraisal wells that, once a discovery is made, they apply to us for permission to do appraisal wells. That is, they will drill wells around there to find the depth of the reservoir, the size of the reservoir, and try to quantify and test the fluids and all of that-to study the reservoir. Then they will say to us, we’re confident that we can move to production. We’re happy that they’re at that stage now.” This seismic exercise is conducted by specialised vessels equipped with sophisticated sensors to capture images beneath the seabed. There are a limited number of these vessels in the world.

Back in May, the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) announced that the survey would take place within Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and is scheduled to conclude on November 15, 2026. The operation will involve the OSV Bureau of Geophysical Prospecting (BGP) Moonrise-G and the SV BGP Prospector. In fact, Minister Bharrat explained that the vessel undertaking the survey for the consortium is the same one that was contracted by the Guyana Government to conduct a geotechnical and 3D seismic survey of its own. “So, we are actually happy to have one [such vessel] in Guyana waters, which will remain here because, as you’re aware, we signed a multi-client 3D seismic survey with the very company… So, as soon as it’s finished with Total, it will start shooting in our blocks,” Bharrat stated. French-based Viridien had announced in March of this year that, along with BGP, it has entered into an agreement with the Natural Resources Ministry to launch a massive multi-client 3D seismic acquisition and imaging programme across the shallow water acreage lots 2, 3, and 4-an area comprising approximately 25,000 square kilometres (km²).

“New data will be acquired by BGP, and high-end seismic imaging will be performed by Viridien, applying its industry-leading proprietary advanced workflows, including state-of-the-art shallow water demultiple (SDW) and time-lag full-waveform inversion (TLFWI). The resulting new subsurface images, along with any potential future reimaging of existing seismic data, will help unlock the hydrocarbon potential of the shallow water portion of the basin and support Guyana’s future licensing round in the area,” the company had stated back in March. The Guyana Government had commissioned this survey to obtain detailed data on offshore resources in order to attract more companies to explore for oil and bid for offshore blocks. This will come in handy, especially as the Government prepares to launch its second bid round sometime next year for the remaining oil blocks offshore Guyana.

“That seismic actually will finish long before the end of the year by Total. Our seismic shoot will start; that is, the Government’s contract will start,” the Minister indicated during the podcast. When Guyana went out for its first oil block auction, the country did not have any data to share with potential bidders-something which Government officials had cited for the low bids received.

That bid round, which was launched in December 2022 and closed in September 2023, saw 14 oil blocks within the country’s shallow and deep-water areas put up for grabs. During the auction, eight blocks were shortlisted based on the bidders’ ability to meet the criteria of the expected work programme and the required financial commitments. Six companies were subsequently awarded oil blocks, among them a female-owned Guyanese company, Sispro Inc., which secured two blocks. However, the Government has only signed two oil contracts to date-one with the TotalEnergies-led consortium and the other with Ghanaian -based Cybele Energy, which is still finalising investors to meet its financial commitments to Guyana. Negotiations are still ongoing with the other oil block awardees.