A group of oil firms lead by Vietnam’s oil and gas monopoly PetroVietnam plans to spend $3 billion to develop new oil blocks in Algeria, a PetroVietnam official said on Tuesday.
PetroVietnam and its partners will develop the newly found Blocks 433a and 416b in Touggourt, 800 kilometers southeast of the Algerian capital of Algiers, reported a senior official of PetroVietnam Investment and Development Co (PIDC), which presents PetroVietnam in the oil group.
According to the PIDC website, tests at oil blocks flowed 5,120 barrels of crude oil per day and 4.8 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
PIDC Deputy Director Nguyen Quoc Thap, also director of the PIDC branch in Algeria, said PetroVietnam expects to have commercial production in 2009.
The 6,471-square kilometer block, jointly owned by PetroVietnam, Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Algeria's Sonatrach, is estimated to have two billion barrels of crude oil, he said.
PetroVietnam’s PIDC holds a 40 per cent stake in the project while Thailand’s PTT Exploration has a 35 per cent interest and the remaining 25 per cent belongs to Algeria’s State oil and gas company Sonatrach. PetroVietnam entered the contract with Sonatrach in July 2002.
In an effort to offset declining production in Vietnam, PetroVietnam will expand its operations overseas in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Apart from the Algerian project, the State-run PetroVietnam also develops two blocks in Malaysia, the Tamtsag Block in Mongolia, the Amara field in Iraq, and the North East Madura I and II blocks in Indonesia.
According to PetroVietnam’s overseas oil and gas exploration and exploitation business plan, PetroVietnam will seek 6-7 oil and gas exploration and exploitation contracts abroad between 2005 and 2010 with the aim of raising its oil equivalent reserves overseas.
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