PetroVietnam buys Chevron's Vietnamese upstream assets

In a bid to boost its gas output, Vietnamese State oil company PetroVietnam yesterday said it had acquired all the Vietnamese upstream assets of Chevron Corp, for an undisclosed sum.

Under the agreement, Petrovietnam has acquired Chevron's operatorship of Block B, Block 48 & 95 and Block 52/97 projects, off Vietnam's continental shelf.

These include Chevron Vietnam (Block B) Ltd, holding a 42.38-per cent operating interest in the PSC covering Blocks B and 48/95, Chevron Vietnam (Block 52), holding a 43.40 per cent operating interest in the PSC covering Block 52/97 and also the operator under the two PSCs, and Chevron Southwest Vietnam Pipeline Co. Ltd, holding a 28.7 per cent working interest in a pipeline project that would deliver natural gas from offshore to gas users in Vietnam.

The Block B – O Mon project is designed to transport gas from Block B and 48/95 and Block 52/97 in waters southwest of Vietnam to the O Mon, Kien Giang power plant hub, and to supplement gas supply to the Ca Mau gas fertilizer hub.

The total investment for field development and construction of the gas – power project utilizing gas from Block B & 48/95 and Block 52/97 is estimated to exceed 10 billion US dollars, said Petrovietnam in a statement.

Nguyen Xuan Son, chairman of Petrovietnam, said, ''Petrovietnam's completion of the acquisition of Chevron's assets in Vietnam will facilitate the acceleration of field development and the implementation of the component projects in order to make gas more quickly available to serve the development needs of the national economy.''