Rusvietpetro, a joint venture between Zarubezhneft and Vietnam's Petrovietnam, plans to start production at an oil field in northern Russia on Sunday, International Oil Daily reported, citing company officials.
Output at the West Khosedayuskoye oil field in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district is expected to reach 180,000 tons by the end of the year, the daily reported Wednesday.
The report comes ahead of Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang's visit to Russia, which is scheduled for July 26-30.
Commenting on relations between the two countries, Pham Xuan Son, Vietnam's ambassador to Moscow, said that cooperation in oil and gas exploration remains an important area in Vietnamese-Russian relations, which bring in benefits and huge economic returns, Dau Tu newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Russian government last week approved the transfer of the exploration and production license for the North Purovskoye gas condensate field in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district to Gazpromviet, a joint venture between Gazprom and Petrovietnam, Interfax reported Wednesday.
Currently, the license is owned by Gazprom.
In January, the license for another Russian deposit, the Nagumanovskoye oil and gas condensate field in the Orenburg region, was reassigned to Gazpromviet.
The Vietnam-Russia joint venture Vietsovpetro said earlier this month that it had found new oil at the Tho Trang (White Hare) structure near the Bach Ho field, with capacity of 1,690 barrels per day. Vietsovpetro said it would bring it into operation next year.
Gazprom and Petrovietnam signed a cooperation agreement in May 2008 to explore and develop four new blocks on the Vietnamese shelf and set up a joint venture for operations in Russia and third countries. Gazprom and Petrovietnam hold 51 percent and 49 percent in the venture, respectively.
(Bloomberg, Reuters, MT)
