Apache makes breakthrough Suriname find

US independent’s share price soars as oil confirmed in frontier province

The small South American country of Guyana has been transformed since the discovery of offshore oil in 2015 into one of the world’s most prolific exploration hotspots—18 new discoveries from just 20 wells drilled—and will soon begin producing first oil from phase one of ExxonMobil’s Liza project. But, while Guyana is set to become one of the leading producers in Latin America over the next decade, exploration in neighbouring Suriname had to date failed to replicate its rival’s upstream successes—returning no commercial finds—despite similar geology and major oil companies snapping up acreage across the maritime border from ExxonMobil’s prolific Guyanese Stabroek block.  The fortunes of the n