Pertamina quits Vietnam E&P project
Wednesday, June 8 2005 - 07:11 PM WIB
State oil and gas company Pertamina said Wednesday it had pulled out of its project in Vietnam that it jointly set up with Vietnam's Petrovietnam and Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd., a Pertamina official said Wednesday.
"We stopped our project in Vietnam as it's no longer economical," Pertamina's upstream director Harry Kustoro told reporters.
He said the joint venture company had failed to find oil in a block off Vietnam's coast. The company had drilled two wells in the oil block but they didn't yield any results.
Kustoro said state-owned Pertamina had invested between $5 million and $6 million in the joint venture company.
Pertamina signed a contract with Petrovietnam and Petronas in 2002 to jointly explore and develop hydrocarbon resources in Blocks 10 and 11.1 off Vietnam's coast.
Pertamina held a 30% stake in the joint venture company, with Petrovietnam owning 40% and Petronas 30%.(*)