SK earthon finds new oil reserve off Vietnam’s southeastern coast

SK earthon found an offshore petroleum reserve in Block 15-2/17 within the waters off Vietnam. Courtesy of SK earthon

SK earthon, an power useful resource developer beneath SK Innovation, introduced Wednesday that it found a brand new petroleum reserve beneath the seabed in Vietnamese waters.

The reserve was situated in Block 15-2/17 inside the Cuu Lengthy Basin, off Vietnam’s southeastern coast. Murphy Oil Corp., a U.S.-based firm holding working rights for the block, has confirmed the invention.

SK earthon began exploration of the block, situated 64 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, in 2019. It joined the event undertaking with a 25 p.c working curiosity. Murphy Oil’s subsidiary, Murphy Cuu Lengthy Tay Oil, operates the block with a 40 p.c working curiosity, whereas Vietnam’s state-run petroleum firm, Petro Vietnam Exploration Manufacturing, holds the remaining 35 p.c.

The monetary time period „working curiosity“ refers to an investor’s share in a property, reminiscent of land containing oil and fuel, and the rights and tasks that include it.

SK earthon stated Block 15-2/17 has a excessive potential for power storage as a result of it’s adjoining to Blocks 15-1 and 15-1/05, which presently produce the second-largest quantity of petroleum for Vietnam amongst power useful resource blocks across the nation. The Cuu Lengthy Basin additionally presently produces over 50 p.c of Vietnam’s total fuel and petroleum assets. The corporate added that Block 15-2/17’s closeness to Block 15-1 additionally presents the likelihood for synergy when growing each blocks.

“Our newest accomplishment in Block 15-2/17 comes simply as our growth of Block 15-1/05 has simply shifted to increased gears,” an SK earthon official stated.

“Our tasks in Vietnam are all crusing easily proper now. They may lead our additional power growth tasks within the waters off Southeast Asia.”

The method of offshore petroleum exploration sometimes follows three sequential phases: search, growth and manufacturing. As an example, Block 15-1/05 is presently within the growth section.

SK earthon’s newest discovery of petroleum reserves comes after it found one other oil reserve in Block 16-2, additionally within the waters off Vietnam, in November 2023. Block 16-2 marks the primary undertaking in Vietnam the place the corporate holds working rights.

SK earthon additionally surpassed 10 million barrels of petroleum produced from Block 17/03 in waters off China. It was the primary block the corporate ever searched, developed, began manufacturing and shipped out merchandise utilizing its personal know-how. The corporate started producing barrels from the block in 2023.

With SK earthon’s operations within the waters off China and Vietnam, SK Innovation’s power useful resource growth division reported gross sales of over 1.9 trillion received ($1.3 billion) and working income of 428 billion received throughout the first three quarters of 2024.

“SK Innovation’s power growth companies have been seeing annual gross sales surpassing 1 trillion received yearly since 2022. Its earnings have additionally been upping steadily. Because of SK earthon, which has been the corporate’s money cow,” an SK earthon official stated.

SK Innovation began its power useful resource growth enterprise in 1983. It’s presently engaged on 11 power blocks within the waters off eight international locations, in addition to three liquefied pure fuel reserves. It’s presently producing about 57,000 barrels of crude oil and fuel day by day.