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