Zarubezhneft, Partners to Start Developing Vietnamese Block
Vietsovpetro, Zarubezhneft and Petrovietnam Exploration and Production will begin the development of the oil and gas block 09-2/09 in the Cuu Long Basin offshore Vietnam, Zarubezhneft said on July 10 in a statement.
The ministry of industry and trade of Vietnam issued an adjusted investment license for the block on July 9. Vietsovpetro, a Russian-Vietnamese joint venture, will operate the block with 40% interest; Zarubezhneft will have a 30% stake and Petrovietnam the remaining 30%.
“This event is an important milestone of the project, as it shall allow the contractors to commence the actual performance of measures associated with the block development immediately,” Zarubezhneft said.
The block 09-2/09 is located on the continental shelf 135 km south-east from Vungtau city. At the moment the block is in the second stage of the prospecting and exploration period which expires on August 20, 2022, Zarubezhneft said.
Nine exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled resulting in the discovery of two oil and gas fields: Kinh Ngu Trang (White Whale) and Kinh Ngu Trang Nam (South White Whale). Accoring to the Russian company, the in-place commercial oil and gas reserves of these fields amount to 212mn barrels of oil and 10.2 billion m3 of gas.