Song Hong News

Close on the heels of announcing its plans to invest in a steel plant in Vietnam, Essar group is now looking forward to investing in the oil and gas exploration sector in the country. According to sources, Essar Energy Holdings Ltd – the group oil and gas outfit – has recently participated in the ‘2nd international bidding round for open blocks in Song Hong Basin’, offshore northern Vietnam. The bid was submitted for one block on a standalone basis, though the name of the block was not given. Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, known as PetroVietnam, had launched the bidding round in June this year. The blocks are located at average water depths of 60-100 meters covering 50 square km area at 50 to 100 km distance from the shoreline.

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has signed an LNG delivery agreement with Shell, Total and French energy company Suez. The company has signed the LNG spot delivery master agreement with the three companies. The agreement will lead these companies into China's LNG spot market, and make a reasonable profit for them. Santos Ltd said it has signed a production sharing contract with the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp (Petrovietnam) for an exploration site in the Song Hong basin, offshore Vietnam. Santos, Australia's second largest oil and gas company, will conduct the exploration and hold a 55 pct interest while Singapore Petroleum Co Ltd will hold the remaining 45 pct share.

The Vietnam Shipping Corp. (VINASHIN) grew 46.5 percent last year, reporting a turnover of $ 692 million. This year, VINASHIN has lined up several large projects including construction of and upgrades to 14 shipyards, the most prominent of which are Song Hong, Ha Long, Nhat Le, and Nghi Son in the north and Dung Quat, Cam Ranh, and Da Nang in the central region. The state-owned giant plans promotions, training programs, and market expansion in Egypt, Japan, and several European countries besides forming a partnership with Japan’s Universal Corp. to manufacture ship parts. Source: Thanhnien