Malaysia’s national oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd on May 19 said it had completed a 50% farm-down of its participating interest in an offshore block in Suriname to a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp.

The deal was made between Petronas Suriname Exploration & Production B.V. and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Suriname B.V. for Block 52, which covers over 4,700 sq km (1,800 sq miles), in the Suriname-Guyana Basin.

With the completion of the farm-down, Petronas will focus on drilling a well in the third quarter of this year and acquiring new 3D seismic data of the entire block, the company said in a statement.