MOSCOW, April 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russian energy giant Gazprom plans to start gas production off Vietnam’s coast in June, Gazprom Deputy CEO Vitaly Markelov said on Thursday.
In 2012, Gazprom received stakes in developing Blocks 05-2 and 05-3 in the southeastern part of the South China Sea. Two gas condensate fields have been opened in the blocks, Moc Tinh (05-3) and Hai Tchach (05-2 and 05-3) with reserves estimated at 55.6 billion cubic meters of gas and 25 million tons of gas condensate.
The deposits are located some 320 km from the Vung Tau coast area. The Nam Con Son underwater gas pipeline is in close proximity to the blocks. The deposits are 100-135 meters deep water.
“It is planned to build 16 exploitation wells to develop the deposits. Currently, the project is at the deposit development infrastructure stage. Work continues to build the fourth exploitation well at the WHP-MT1 extracting platform (the Moc Tinh deposit). Gas extraction is expected to start in June 2013,” Markelov told Gazprom magazine.
