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Premier-led group to study Vietnam oil resource after discovery
A Premier Oil Plc-led group plans to survey an area off southern Vietnam this month and next to assess potential resources, after announcing a discovery in June.
The group, which includes Vietnam American Exploration Co., Pan Pacific Petroleum NL, and a unit of Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development Co., plans a three-dimensional survey covering 1,000 square kilometers, Sydney-based Pan Pacific said Wednesday in statement. It called the discovery “very encouraging.”
Testing at two zones in the area known as Block 07/03 produced flows at a combined rate of 3,265 barrels of oil and 8.1 million cubic feet of gas a day, Premier said last month. The prospect targeted by the well, known as Ca Rong Do, may hold 80 million barrels, Pan Pacific said in May.
Vietnam is hoping that exploration in the area, freed for drilling by a 2003 accord with the Indonesian government that delineated sea boundaries, will help reverse declining oil output. Thailand passed Vietnam last year as Southeast Asia’s third-biggest crude oil producer, after Indonesia and Malaysia, according to BP Plc.
Pan Pacific has surged 57 percent this year in Sydney trading. Premier Oil has climbed 34 percent this year in London.
The survey will target the eastern part of Block 07/03 and is aimed at “defining the resource potential of the Ca Rong Do discovery and adjacent structures, and to determine future exploration and appraisal activity,” Pan Pacific said Wednesday. “Evaluation of an appraisal of the Ca Rong Do discovery will follow the results of the three-dimensional seismic survey.”
The initial well has been plugged and abandoned, and a second exploration well is planned for the fourth quarter, Pan Pacific said.
thanhnien, Bloomberg
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