Salamander starts southern Vietnam campaign

Offshore staff

LONDON -- The PVD-1 jackup has spudded an exploration well in block DBSCL-01 in the Vinh Chau Graben system off southern Vietnam for operator Salamander Energy.

The Tom Su Lua-1X well, in 5 m (49 ft) of water, is planned to a subsurface depth of around 1,400 m (4,593 ft), targeting oil in the Eocene-Oliogocene clastics and the pre-Tertiary basement.

Salamander estimates pre-drill recoverable resources at around 60 MMbbl. Drilling should take 25 days to complete on a dry-hole basis.

Following completion, the rig will transfer to nearby block 31 to drill the Tom Hum Xanh-1X exploratory well, again for Salamander, where pre-drilled resources are put at 80 MMbbl.

Salamander’s CEO James Menzies says: “The Vinh Chau Graben is a virgin basin that is estimated to contain several hundred million barrels of prospective oil resources.”

06/10/2010