Aabar Petroleum Investments Company PJSC announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, PearlOil (Ophiolite) Limited, has entered into a binding agreement to acquire a 15% working interest from Vietnam American Exploration Company LLC (“VAMEX”) in the production sharing contract for Block 07 & 08/97, offshore southern Vietnam. The agreement is subject to government approval.
Block 07 & 08/97 covers an area of 4,915 square kilometres and is located at the southern margin of the Nam Con Son Basin. It lies on a trend of oil and gas discoveries including BP’s producing gas fields at Lan Tay and Lan Do. The block is adjacent to the Aabar-operated Block 06/94 signed earlier this year.
The area has been little explored in recent years due to the moratorium related to the territory boundary line between Vietnam and Indonesia, which was resolved in 2003.
On government approval for a previous farm-out agreement, VAMEX will hold a 55% working interest in Block 07 & 08/97 and Premier Oil Vietnam South B.V. (“Premier”) will hold the remaining 45% as well as operatorship of the block. On formal completion of Aabar’s acquisition, Aabar, VAMEX and Premier will hold 15%, 40% and 45% respectively.
“We are delighted to be entering this highly prospective contract area and look forward to working with VAMEX and renewing our partnership with Premier, which has demonstrated its knowledge of the exploration play in the Nam Con Son Basin with its recent discoveries in Block 12E. We are very pleased with our progress in Vietnam so far and with the encouragement provided by PetroVietnam. Aabar looks forward to the continued growth of our portfolio in the country,” said Chris Gibson- Robinson, Aabar’s Vice President Operations and New Business Development (Southeast Asia).
