Vietnam, Korea To Jointly Explore Gas

Vietnamese state-run oil company Petrovietnam and Korea National Oil Corp signed on Monday a production sharing contract on the $300 million exploration and trading of natural gas from a Vietnamese offshore block.

Dong Hee Kim, the KNOC exploration manager, said in a statement the deal was aimed at producing the first gas from the Rong Doi and Rong Doi Tay fields in Block 11-2 in October, 2006.

State-run KNOC now estimates reserves in the block at 856 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 22.8 million barrels of condensate in Vietnam?s key gas acreage, the Nam Con Son basin.