Chevron wins exploration rights in Vietnam - media
Tue Oct 11, 2005
HANOI, Oct 12 (Reuters) - U.S. oil giant Chevron Corp (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has won the right to explore an oil block in the Phu Khanh Basin, off the coast of central Vietnam, state media reported on Wednesday.
Chevron will hold 50 percent equity in the Block 122, which covers an area of 6,981 square kilometres, the Vietnam News daily quoted Steve Green, managing director of Chevron's South Asia International Exploration and Production Division, as saying.
The remaining equity belongs to Malaysia's Petronas Carigali [PETR.UL].
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. (ONGC) also announced last month it won another block in the Phu Khanh Basin, Block 127, which has been estimated to hold potential oil reserves of more than 1 billion barrels.
Phu Khanh Basin is a deep water basin located along the southern coastline of the Southeast Asian country with water depths from 50 metres to 2,500 metres and thick sediment of up to 8,000 metres.
State oil monopoly Petrovietnam said last year preliminary studies showed the basin, close to Vietnam's two biggest producing fields, Bach Ho and Su Tu Den, held probable oil and gas reserves of 1.5-2 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
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