PetroVietnam to exploit oil in Malaysia

PetroVietnam to exploit oil in Malaysia

HANOI: Vietnam's state-owned oil and gas giant PetroVietnam
signed a deal with Malaysia's Petronas and Pertamina of Indonesia
to exploit an oil block in Malaysian waters, the company said.

The Vietnamese company and Pertamina will each take a 30
percent stake in the block, with Petronas holding the remainder,
Dang Huu Tuy, a company spokesman, told AFP.

Block SK-305 has a total area of 15,000 square meters and is
located off Sarawak, eastern Malaysia.

PetroVietnam declined to give specific figures for the value
of the deal.

In 2001, the three countries signed an oil and gas cooperation
agreement, allowing common exploration in the three countries on
the basis that the host country would take a 40 percent stake in
any project, with the remaining 60 percent split evenly between
the two other partners.

In January 2002, a similar contract was signed for two blocks
in Vietnam -- Blocks 10 and 11 in the Nam Con Son basin, in the
south of the country.

Tuy said the parties are soon to discuss an agreement for
another block in Indonesia. --AFP