Suriname’s offshore Block 52, which has already yielded a major gas discovery, could be declared commercial for oil within the next year and a half, Annand Jagesar, managing director of Suriname’s state oil firm Staatsolie, has told Reuters. Suriname, which shares offshore geological properties with its neighbor to the west, the oil hotspot Guyana, aims to become the new big oil and gas producer in South America by the end of the decade. Several offshore blocks are being explored and developed by consortia led by international firms…