Vietnam’s Oil Production Outlook Boosted by Salamander, Soco

Vietnam’s falling oil output has gained a boost when Salamander Energy Plc recently announced exploration plans and Soco International Plc cited a 2011 schedule for expanding production in the country.

 

Salamander said it had won approval to hold a 60 per cent stake of Block 31 that occupies more than 5,000 square kilometers and is adjacent to a territory in the Cuu Long River (Mekong) Delta for which the company already has exploration rights.

 

Soco, which has drilled seven wells in its Te Giac Trang field in Block 16-1 and tested 14,490 barrels of oil a day in a June appraisal, has recently said it is targeting the start of production in 2011.

 

Soco has also confirmed that it may start exploration in Te Giac Den field on Block 16-1 after the first half of next year.

 

The company, which began production in July 2008 at Ca Ngu Vang in a block known as 9-2, said in announcing its results for the 2008 fiscal year that it expects average production of between 10,000 and 20,000 barrels of crude a day from the field for the next 20 years.

 

Ca Ngu Vang’s production helped Vietnam post a 27-percent increase in oil exports by volume in the first two months of 2009 to 2.89 million tons, or about 367,000 barrels a day, based on preliminary figures from the Hanoi-based General Statistics Office.

 

Output from Vietnam has slipped since 2005 as the Russian-invested Bach Ho field ages after two decades. In 2007 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung recommended state-owned Vietnam Oil & Gas Group “urgently” bring new fields into production, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. predicted last year that Vietnam’s four-year oil production slump would end in 2009. (Thanh Nien Daily)