How a new cable landing could boost Guyana basin oil play

The arrival of the EllaLink fiber submarine cable off the coast of French Guiana promises to expand international connectivity and data transport in the three main markets that make up the northeast coast of South America, with the oil and gas industry among the main beneficiaries.

This week, a 2,100km extension made landfall on Montabo beach, near French Guiana’s capital Cayenne, under an initiative called Lum@Link co-funded by the European Union.

The section constructor was Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), formerly controlled by Finland's Nokia and currently owned by the French state.

The Lum@Link project is budgeted at €78.4 million (US$85.2mn). The territorial authority of French Guiana is contributing €13.5 million, while European funds amount to €41.4 million. These include contributions from the French Development Agency (AFD) with €20 million and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) with €3.5 million.

Activated in 2021, EllaLink connects the region to continental Europe via Sines, Portugal, starting from Fortaleza, Brazil. According to EllaLink, the latency on this route is below 60ms.

The extension to Cayenne was first announced in January 2024, but projects for French Guiana to have a direct European route dates back to 2016. 

The contract awarded to EllaLink was granted by SPLANG, part of the governance body Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane (CTG) and the associated municipalities of French Guiana.

Following the Lum@Link extension, two other stretches are now underway, both to Brazil: Belém, capital of Pará state, and São Luís, capital of Maranhão state.

Energy opportunities

The route is particularly aimed at supporting the growing oil and gas exploration industry in the offshore Guyana–Suriname basin. Trinidad & Tobago is also expected to benefit.

The infrastructure is expected to provide essential, secure and low-latency communication for the energy ecosystem, allowing countries in the region to bypass traditional, higher-latency routes through North America to reach Europe.

In Suriname, French Guiana’s neighbor, the sector is upbeat about the system's arrival, as a network with reduced latency and improved reliability is seen as critical for the digitization of industrial operations and for the data transfer for energy firms.

Suriname is undergoing a significant economic shift with significant deepwater oil exploration, including projects in Block 58 and plans for solar projects and potential LNG imports.

At Montabo beach, the cable landing ceremony was attended by Telesur, Suriname's state-owned full-service telecommunications company. According to the telco, French Guiana’s connection strengthens digital resilience across the whole region, namely to the benefit of offshore oil exploration.

"As Suriname accelerates its digital transformation and prepares for the growth of the oil and gas sector, robust and diversified international connectivity becomes essential," Telesur said in a social media post.

Deep Blue

Lum@Link is not the only new subsea project set to benefit the region and energy exploration companies.

In mid-2024, Caribbean telco Digicel launched a 2,000km cable connecting French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago that was specifically routed to provide data connectivity for offshore oil and gas rigs along the way.

Deep Blue One also interconnects with Orange's Kanawa cable and Digicel's existing Southern Caribbean Fiber (SCF) system, for broader reach.

Its landing points are Rocky Bay and Chaguaramas, in Trinidad & Tobago; Georgetown, Guyana; Paramaribo, Suriname; and Cayenne, French Guiana.

Also supplied by ASN, Deep Blue is powered with optical capacity provided by US firm Infinera - later acquired by Nokia.

(The original version of this content was written in English)