SOCO will acquire 70% operated interest in Blocks 125 and 126 offshore central Vietnam through a production sharing agreement (PSC) the company signed on 27 October with PetroVietnam and SOVICO Holdings.
Blocks 125 & 126 are located in moderate to deep water in the Phu Khanh Basin, offshore central Vietnam, to the north of the Cuu Long Basin, and have multiple structural and stratigraphic plays observed on the available seismic data, SOCO said in a 30 October press release. Interpretation of the existing data indicates there is good potential for source, expulsion and migration of oil with numerous reservoir and seal intervals likely. Accordingly, there is a very real possibility that a new oil province could be developed offshore Vietnam.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by the partners in 2015, and the final PSC was approved by the Vietnamese government and prime minister in August 2017. SOCO began its serious evaluation of the exploration potential of Blocks 125 & 126 in the Phu Khanh Basin in 2010, following an interest that preceded that time by many years, said Ed Story, SOCO president and chief executive, who attended the signing ceremony on Hanoi. SOCO’s capital expenditure for 2017 includes the purchase of existing seismic data. Initial exploration activities will include reprocessing and interpretation of seismic data, with a view to drilling the first exploration well potentially as early as 2021.
SOCO has been present in Vietnam for almost two decades and has invested over $1 billion into its oil and gas projects located offshore southern Vietnam, making SOCO one of the largest British investors in Vietnam. SOCO’s current producing interests are the Te Giac Trang Field of Block 16-1 and the Ca Ngu Vang field of Block 9-2, both offshore Vietnam, which together, are amongst Vietnam’s largest oil producers.
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