Essar Oil - Essar bags an E&P block in Vietnam
Essar Oil Ltd has informed that the decision of the Board to consolidate the upstream Exploration & Production activities under its proposed subsidiary, Essar Exploration & Production Ltd.
Further the Company has informed that, the proposed subsidiary, Essar Exploration &
Production Ltd, Mauritius, has been awarded an Offshore block in the prolific Song
Hong basin, Vietnam, for Exploration admeasuring approximately 5925 Sq Kms. by the
Government of Vietnam. The block was offered under the recent Licensing Round
offering 7 offshore blocks.
In this regard the Company has issued the following Press Release:
“Essar Exploration & Production Ltd (EEPL), Mauritius, has been awarded an offshore block in Vietnam’s prolific Song Hong basin.
Admeasuring approximately 5925 sq km, the block was awarded under a recent licensing round where 7 offshore blocks were on offer. It is a shallow water block with average water depth of 60 to 70 metres.
The minimum work programme for the block envisages detailed geological and geophysical studies, reprocessing of selected existing 2D seismic data, acquisition, processing and interpretation of fresh 3D seismic of 1000 sq km, and drilling of two exploratory wells with 3500 m target depth. The exploration phase is estimated to last five years and the investment for this programme will be approximately US$ 60 million.
Essar Oil is in the process of consolidating its upstream Exploration & Production activities under its proposed subsidiary, EEPL. This will help build a strong, fully integrated oil Company with upstream, refining and downstream marketing activities. Once this exercise is completed, Essar Oil will have eight Oil & Gas blocks and one Coal Bed Methane block. This includes onshore blocks in Madagascar; an offshore block in Nigeria; on shore block in Mehsana, Gujarat; a Coal Bed Methane block in Raniganj, West Bengal; the offshore field Ratna & R Series and two onshore blocks in Assam.”
