Spain’s Cepsa is farming into a deepwater block offshore Suriname on the north east margin of South America.

Cepsa has acquired a 25% stake in Block 53 from Apache Suriname Corporation, a subsidiary of Apache Corp. Suriname’s state oil company Staatsolie partnered up with US independent Apache in a production sharing contract signed in October last year for the block, which lies 130 km northwest of the capital, Paramaribo. That PSC outlined expenditure of up to US $230 million on exploration activity.

Block 53 features water depths ranging from 500-1,800 m (1,640-5,906 ft). Staatsolie said Cepsa would take part in the block’s exploration phase, which runs until April 2016 and entails geological surveys, 3D seismic acquisition and the drilling of two wells.

“All expenses are being carried by the foreign partners ... Staatsolie has the option to participate for 20% by direct investments in the development phase,” stated the company.

Last year Chevron announced an exploration agreement with Kosmos Energy that gave the US major a 50% working interest in two deepwater blocks offshore Suriname, Blocks 42 and 45, where a well could be drilled during 2014.