Murphy Oil’s Hai Su Vang-1 shallow water oil discovery in Vietnam’s Cuu Long basin, Woodmac says, looks like a big boost to both the US player’s portfolio and the country’s unpredictably shaky liquids production outlook.
The find has intersected 110 metres of net oil pay across two reservoir zones which according to Wood Mackenzie, aligns with Murphy’s pre-drill estimates of 170 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) or more of gross resources. The company operates the block with a 40% interest, partnering with PetroVietnam (35%) and SK Earthon (25%). Murphy according to Woods, is currently evaluating the well results and developing further appraisal plans.
Woodmac believes that even though actual commercially recoverable volumes tend to be significantly lower than the gross resource number, it would still seem likely this is the largest oil find in the Cuu Long basin for over a decade, pending further appraisal.
Golak Patnaik, principal analyst, Asia Pacific Upstream at Woods said: “This is particularly important given that Vietnam’s oil production, which reached its peak at 390,000 barrels per day (kb/d) in 2004, has since declined to around 138 kb/d. As such, the Hai Su Vang-1 discovery could play a key role in addressing this decline and ensuring the sustainability of the country’s oil production.”
Patnaik added: “Development could be expedited given Murphy’s existing Lac Da Vang oil field, located in the adjacent Block 15-1/05, is already under development and is expected to be onstream by mid-2026. Given the proximity of Hai Su Vang-1, just 15 kilometres to the southeast, it could potentially be a future fast-track tie-in option,”
Murphy will be moving to spud Lac Da Hong-1 exploration well on an adjacent prospect to Lac Da Vang, also within block 15-1/05 any time sooner.