PetroVietnam has signed a contract with the Indonesian government to explore for oil and gas in two fields off the coast of eastern Java, a company official said.
The Petroleum Investment and Development Company (PIDC), a subsidiary of the state-owned oil and gas firm, signed the agreement on Tuesday in Jakarta with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, a PetroVietnam spokesman said.
The company recently won the rights to develop the Northeast Madura I and II fields with South Korea's state-owned Korean National Oil Company (KNOC) and SK Corp.
KNOC has 50 pct of the oil and gas exploration rights in the Madura I field, while SK has 30 percent and PIDC 20 percent.
In Madura II, KNOC has an 80 pct share with PIDC holding the remainder.
Exploration is set to begin this month, the spokesman said.
