With oil on horizon, Suriname launches carbon credit trading

PARAMARIBO, August 27, 2024 – Suriname is launching carbon credit trading this month, part of a drive to highlight its status as carbon-negative while becoming a key oil producer, the government announced on Friday.

A carbon credit is a tradeable certificate that allows the owner to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases, typically one tonne per credit. Purchasers can use them to offset emissions and reach sustainability and net-zero goals.

Suriname is looking to grow its oil production from around 17,000 bopd to more than 200,000 bopd in the coming years.

In its online announcement, the Ministry of Spatial Planning and the Environment said it would “ensure that revenues from the sale of carbon credits are shared fairly between investors, developers and local communities.”

It also emphasised that the carbon credit scheme was only one of the country’s environmental initiatives, with investments being made in renewable energy sources and emissions-reducing technologies.

“Suriname is already a carbon-negative country, and we have made a commitment internationally to remain carbon negative,” Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname the Honourable Albert Ramdin told The Energy Year in a wide-ranging interview late last year.

Minister Ramdin highlighted the country’s global service as a carbon-negative actor, with 93% of its land forested, while discussing the need for fair treatment as an emerging oil producer from countries who had already built economies entailing heavy CO2 emissions.

Suriname has emerged in recent years as one of the most promising new oil and gas provinces worldwide.

Among its oil and gas assets, offshore Block 58 has generated the most excitement. TotalEnergies operates the block, and in September 2023 unveiled a USD 9-billion offshore drilling project at two sites that CEO Patrick Pouyanné says could contain 700 million barrels. The company is targeting production of 200,000 bopd, a game-changing volume more than 10 times Suriname’s current output.

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