Vietnam to boost Dai Hung output

Output from Vietnam’s Dai Hung oilfield is expected to soar to 18,000 barrels per day from September after a new wellhead platform comes into operation.

The expected output of the offshore oilfield, which is currently 4000 bpd, was published after Vietnam accused China of increasing regional tensions after a clash between Chinese patrol boats and a Petrovietnam oil and gas survey ship last week.

A unit of Petrovietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) was scheduled to complete the installation of the platform by 16 June, chief executive Hoang Ba Cuong of PVEP Production Operating Company was quoted by New Energy magazine as saying.

The installation of the platform, built by domestic companies for deep-sea exploration, will ensure nearly 2 million barrels of oil is lifted this year from Dai Hung oilfield, Cuong told the magazine in an interview.

“The increase in Dai Hung production will help make up for declining output at other fields such as Song Doc,” a Singapore-based trader told Reuters.

He said PV Oil, which usually sells one 400,000-barrel cargo of Dai Hung each quarter, will be able to offer one parcel each month after the expansion.

Last week PVEP signed a credit agreement to borrow $200 million from VietinBank for seven years to finance the expansion of Dai Hung field, part of a broader effort to increase national output by 2015, Reuters reported.

Dai Hung, now accounting for just over 1% of Vietnam’s daily oil output, produced almost 6 million barrels of oil between 2008 and 2010, Cuong said.

“In coming years PVEP POC will continue operations to ensure safety and the highest efficiency of crude oil production at Dai Hung oilfield,” Cuong said in the interview, but gave no figures for future output.

Petrovietnam has been the sole operator of Dai Hung field since 2003 after the withdrawal of Russian state oil company Zarubezhneft.

Dai Hung oil is significantly heavier than other Vietnamese grades, with an API gravity of 30.7, but a low sulphur content of 0.095%.

Petrovietnam has previously said it expected to produce between 300,000 to 400,000 bpd a year nationally and 8.5 billion to 14 billion cubic metres of gas annually by 2015.

Vietnam lifted 293,700 bpd of crude between January and May, up only 0.5% from the same period last year, government data showed.

Tags: Dai Hung oil field, Vietnam oil fields