SOCO, Partners Start Up Production at Vietnam's CNV Field

SOCO and its partners, Petrovietnam and PTTEP Hoan-Vu, have announced the first flow of crude oil and wet gas from the Ca Ngu Vang Field (CNV), which occurred on July 25, 2008. The block is operated on behalf of the Partners by the Hoan Vu Joint Operating Company (HVJOC), which was established in December 2000.

Four development wells have already been drilled in the CNV Field and HVJOC is currently evaluating and determining further drilling locations for additional development wells in the fractured Basement reservoir. The field is expected to be in production for the next 20 years. Oil production is expected to be between 10,000 to 20,000 barrels of oil per day and wet gas production to be between 25 to 50 million cubic feet per day.

Hydrocarbons from the CNV Field are transported via a 25 km subsea pipeline system to Bach Ho's processing facilities. Crude oil is processed, stored in a Floating Storage and Offloading vessel and then transported to oil refineries. Wet gas separated offshore is transported to an onshore gas facility for further distribution to meet domestic demand of natural gas, LPG and condensate.

The development of the CNV Field as a tie back to Bach Ho in Block 9-1 marks a key milestone in the growth of the Vietnam petroleum industry. This is the first project in Vietnam utilizing the existing facilities of Bach Ho in order to minimize the investment costs, making a new way for developing new fields offshore Vietnam in a very cost effective and efficient manner.

Ed Story, President and Chief Executive of SOCO, commented, "We are very pleased to announce SOCO's first oil from Vietnam, which is a key milestone for the company and demonstrates our ability to see our exploration successes through to production stage.

"Our strong partnerships within Vietnam have allowed this significant event at the CNV field to be realized and we now look forward to targeting further exploration and development success, in both Vietnam and West Africa."