Rosneft Reveals Vietnam Discovery
Thursday 11 August 2016
Russian oil giant Rosneft has revealed a gas condensate discovery at a wildcat on a producing block off Vietnam.
The Moscow-based company said on Thursday its operating subsidiary RN-Vietnam discovered the Wild Orchid has condensate field in Block 6-1 in the Nam Con Son basin.
Rosneft was using Japan Drilling’s semi-submersible Hakuryu-5 to drill the PLDD-1X well in 162 metres of water at the block that contains the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields.
“Volume of reserves and commercial attractiveness of the discovery are to be confirmed,” Rosneft wrote in its second-quarter operational update, where it showed relatively flat production from the first quarter.
“There is a potential synergy, given the proximity of Lan Tay platform which is also operated by RN-Vietnam.”
Rosneft spudded the wildcat in early March. The London-listed player said the pre-drill potential of the PLDD structure is 12.6 billion cubic metres of gas and 5.4 million barrels of condensate that can be developed by subsea completion and tie-back to the Lan Tay platform.
The PLDD-1X probe was the first of two back-to-back wells to be drilled by the company off Vietnam, with the second in the adjoining Block 5-3/11, which is 100% owned by Rosneft.
Rosneft has said it plans to shoot 3D broadband seismic in Block 6-1 later this year “to enhance ongoing production recovery and explore potential in deeper prospects”.
The state-backed behemoth said total production in the second quarter was 5.22 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, with liquids output at 4.11 million barrels per day. The company intensified development drilling, with development drilling mileage alone up 48%.
Commissioning of the Suzun field development in East Siberia is expected in September, with pre-commissioning and start-up operations already under way.