Firm pumps oil from Russia field

The Rusvietpetro joint venture company will officially hold a ceremony to celebrate the first oil pumped from the Northern Hosedayusk oil field in Russia’s Nenetsky Autonomous Okrug Region today.

The joint venture was established by the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Zarubezhneft Joint Stock Co in December 2008. PetroVietnam acquired 49 per cent of the shares and the Russian partner held on to the remainder.

The event will mark PetroVietnam’s first successful venture in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Russia. This would create favourable conditions for the group to expand its activities in the country, the group said.

Under the joint venture contract, the two sides will explore and exploit oil and gas from four blocks covering a total area of 807sq.km in Northern Hosedayusk.

During the exploration process, the company discovered 13 blocks holding a reserve of 95.6 million tonnes of crude oil, PetroVietnam reported.

The joint venture has begun its exploration activities on four blocks with an estimated output of 3,000 tonnes (21,000 barrels) of crude oil per day.

PetroVietnam has signed about 50 contracts with international partners to explore and exploit oil and gas abroad. To date, 22 have been implemented in 13 countries, according to Le Minh Hong, PetroVietnam deputy director. Hong pointed out two of the group’s key projects, including oil fields in Nenetsky and the Junin 2 oil field in Venezuela. — VNS

Tags: Rusvietpetro