Equinor has withdrawn from a Hess-operated deepwater oil and gas exploration block off Suriname and exited the South American country, a spokesperson for the Norwegian company said on Wednesday.
The exit aligns with Equinor’s strategy to focus on producing oil and gas in a few core areas, such as Norway, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, while boosting investments in renewable and low-carbon energy globally.
“We have decided to withdraw from the deepwater Block 59 exploration license in Suriname and we don’t intend to seek further exploration opportunities in the country,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
Hess now owns 100% of the license, although no money changed hands between the companies, Equinor said.
Over the last six years, Equinor exited about 20 countries, such as South Africa, Mexico, Turkey and Nicaragua. In most of the countries, its activities were limited to oil and gas exploration.
It left Russia over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and last year decided to sell its producing assets in Nigeria and Azerbaijan.
When the latest deals are complete, Equinor will have petroleum production or exploration in fewer than 10 countries outside Norway.
Its moves mark a sharp reversal from the international expansion push launched by its former chief executive Helge Lund, now chair of BP, after partial privatisation of Equinor, previously known as Statoil, in 2001.
In 2023, Equinor produced 34% of its total oil and gas output outside Norway, with the U.S. accounting for more than half of its international output, followed by Angola, Brazil and Algeria.
Despite geographical shrinkage, Equinor told investors in February it aimed to grow international output by 15% between 2024 and 2030 to 800,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, mainly from new fields in Brazil, the U.S. and Britain.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik and Rod Nickel)