The Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam issued an adjusted investment license for the oil and gas Block 09-2/09 located on the continental shelf of the country on July 9, 2020. The shares of the participants in the project shall be distributed as follows: the project’s operator JV Vietsovpetro – 40%, Zarubezhneft JSC – 30% and Petrovietnam Exploration and Production– 30%.

This event is an important milestone of the project, as it shall allow the contractors to commence the actual performance of measures associated with the block development immediately.

General Director of Zarubezhneft JSC Sergey Kudryashov commented,
"It should be mentioned that the issue of the adjusted investment license is the result of focused efforts to expand the area of Zarubezhneft’s activities and increasing the resource base in Vietnam through implementation on new oil and gas projects".

The Block 09-2/09 is located on the continental shelf of Vietnam in Cuu Long basing in 135 km south-east from Vungtau city. At the moment the block is in the second stage of the prospecting and exploration period (with account of extension) which expires on August 20, 2022. During the operations and the block a large scope of geologic and geophysical works has been performed, nine exploration and appraisal wells have been drilled. Those works resulted in the discovery of two oil and gas fields: Kinh Ngu Trang (White Whale) and Kinh Ngu Trang Nam (South White Whale). The in-place commercial oil and gas reserves of these fields amount to 212 million barrels of oil and 10.2 billion m3 of gas.

It is planned that the development of the Block 09-2/09 shall be carried out using the infrastructure of the Block 09-1.

An agreement of assignment of Petrovietnam Exploration and Production company’s share in the Block 09-2/09 development project was signed in May 2019 during the formal visit of the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Russia under results of the tender arranged by the Vietnamese national company PetroVietnam in which JV Vietsovpetro and Zarubezhneft JSC participated.

KeyFacts Energy: Zarubezhneft Vietnam country profile