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PetroVietnam seeks Caspian oil, gas deals to boost production
Vietnam Oil & Gas Group is reviewing deposits in Central Asia after signing its first exploration project there last week to help offset waning production at home, a company official said.
The company, known as PetroVietnam, is looking at fields in the Caspian region, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and possibly Turkmenistan, Hoang Ngoc Dang, general manager for exploration, told reporters in St. Petersburg Thursday.
Vietnam, Southeast Asia’s third-largest oil producer after Indonesia and Malaysia, is trying to offset falling production at Bach Ho, its biggest field. PetroVietnam is setting aside as much as 10 percent of annual earnings to finance exploration abroad and at home.
PetroVietnam signed an agreement last week with Uzbekistan for exploration at the Kossor gas project, in which the Vietnamese company will hold 100 percent, Dang said.
The company plans to do seismic work and drill one well at the project, where it seeks as much as 2 trillion cubic feet of gas, the executive said.
In Russia, PetroVietnam is seeking a deal with OAO Gazprom’s oil unit to develop the Nagumanovskoye field in southern Orenburg region, he said, declining to elaborate.
PetroVietnam has one project so far in Russia. The Rusvietpetro joint venture with state-run OAO Zarubezhneft is operating in the northern Nenets region.
The Vietnamese company has more than 20 projects overseas. Domestic oil production is expected at about 15.9 million metric tons this year, little changed from last year, he said.
thanhnien, bloomberg
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