Vietnam offers offshore oil blocks to foreign firms
State-owned PetroVietnam will invite foreign companies to bid for exploration and production contracts for seven offshore blocksin a bid to boost the country's crude oil and gas output, a newswire reported Thursday.
Dow Jones quoted a PetroVietnam official as saying that the blocks offered were in the Song Hong Basin, a deepwater basin offshore north Vietnam, where surveys showed potential hydrocarbon reserves of more than 5 billion barrels.
He said several companies had shown an interest in the blocks, which cover a total area of 50,000 square kilometers and are located 100 kilometers from the shore.
He declined to name companies that have registered for bidding.
Last year, Vietnam for the first time allowed foreign oil companies to enter its northern region, which is believed to contain large crude oil and natural gas reserves.
PetroVietnam awarded exploration and production rights for offshore oil blocks 101 and 100/04 to Australian oil giant Santos Ltd. (STOSY) and Singapore Petroleum Co. (S99.SG) last October.
Currently, PetroVietnam has 35 joint exploration and production contracts with foreign companies which control 1.1 billion tons of oil reserves and 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas in offshore blocks, according to PetroVietnam figures.
Between January and March this year, Vietnam reported total crude oil production of 4.004 million tons or around 326,100 barrels a day, down 7.2 percent on year, government statistics show.
Dow Jones quoted a PetroVietnam official as saying that the blocks offered were in the Song Hong Basin, a deepwater basin offshore north Vietnam, where surveys showed potential hydrocarbon reserves of more than 5 billion barrels.
He said several companies had shown an interest in the blocks, which cover a total area of 50,000 square kilometers and are located 100 kilometers from the shore.
He declined to name companies that have registered for bidding.
Last year, Vietnam for the first time allowed foreign oil companies to enter its northern region, which is believed to contain large crude oil and natural gas reserves.
PetroVietnam awarded exploration and production rights for offshore oil blocks 101 and 100/04 to Australian oil giant Santos Ltd. (STOSY) and Singapore Petroleum Co. (S99.SG) last October.
Currently, PetroVietnam has 35 joint exploration and production contracts with foreign companies which control 1.1 billion tons of oil reserves and 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas in offshore blocks, according to PetroVietnam figures.
Between January and March this year, Vietnam reported total crude oil production of 4.004 million tons or around 326,100 barrels a day, down 7.2 percent on year, government statistics show.