Philex reports major oil, gas discovery in Vietnam

MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining Corp., the country’s largest copper and gold mining firm, announced the discovery of a major oil and gas field by its affiliate Pitkin Petroleum Plc in offshore Vietnam.

This is the first major oil and gas discovery in Asia this year and shows the soundness of the firm’s decision to diversify from copper and gold mining into the oil exploration business.

The investment should provide the company with a new revenue stream on top of its copper and gold sales. Philex has small interests in Galoc and the Abouma field in Gabon, which are already producing oil, through PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Philex said Pitkin had successfully completed the drill stem testing of the Ca Rong Do (Red Emperor) discovery well on Block 07/03 in offshore Vietnam which flowed oil at a combined rate of 3,265 barrels per day plus 8.1 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Philex owns 21.1 percent of Pitkin, an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused mainly in the Pacific Rim region, with operations in Vietnam, the Philippines, Peru and the United States.

Operator Premier Oil Vietnam South BV reported earlier that the Ca Rong Do discovery well was drilled to 3,810 meters and intersected about 90 meters of net oil and gas pay within multiple stacked reservoir levels.

Two of the reservoir zones were tested and showed positive results for oil and gas with no water produced from either zone.

Pitkin said a three-dimensional survey is being planned to define the resource potential of the Ca Rong Do discovery and adjacent areas and to determine future exploration and appraisal activity.

The firm plans to drill a second exploration well elsewhere on Block 07/03 by the fourth quarter of this year.

“We are very pleased to have encountered oil and gas with our first well on Block 07/03 and Pitkin’s first well in its international drilling program,” said Pitkin managing director and CEO Art Morado.

He added that the well demonstrates a working hydrocarbon system within this part of the Nam Con Son Basin—upgrading neighboring leads and prospects.

“We look forward to an active exploration program to follow this success, and to progressing our exploration campaigns in Peru and the Philippines,” Morado said.

Pitkin is involved throughout the exploration and production value chain, with interests in production, a potential re-development project and an active exploration program.

With its wholly-owned subsidiary Vietnam American Exploration Co. LLC (VAMEX), Pitkin has a participating interest of 40 percent in Block 07/03. Its partners are operator Premier Oil Vietnam South B.V. (30 percent, Pearl Oil (Ophiolite) Ltd. (15 percent), and Pan Pacific Petroleum (Vietnam) Pty. Ltd. (15 percent).