Thursday, July 12, 2012 -
Vietnamese state-controlled oil and gas firm PetroVietnam said Thursday it plans to complete drilling of its first well in Uzbekistan in August.
The firm’s upstream subsidiary PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP) and its Uzbek partner Uzbekneftegaz will accelerate work at three promising structures they discovered at the Kossor block in northwestern Uzbekistan, the Platts news agency reported.
The two sides signed a $30 million deal to drill three wells and undertake 2-D seismic surveys in a program lasting to 2014. The agreement to work on the 2,100-square-mile block was signed in January 2010.
PetroVietnam also said Thursday it forged a contract with the Uzbek state-run major to start geologic exploration in the Molabaur block of Ustyurt region at a cost of $61.6 million.
Exploratory operations on 1,400 square miles of territory will begin this year and conclude in 2017.
Under the terms of the agreements, locally-based Uzbek firms will supply materials as well as render works and services to the projects. PetroVietnam also gets special tax benefits on its investments.
Uzbekistan has allotted 44 investment blocks to foreign investors. Around one-half of these have been handed out so far.