Eni informs that the Ken Bau- 2X exploration well, located in Block 114 in the Song Hong basin, offshore Vietnam, has accumulated significant hydrocarbon, increasing its potential.
Ken Bau 2X was drilled 2km from the discovery well, in 95m of water reaching a depth of 3658m below sea level. The well encountered gas and condensate mineralization over a total thickness of over 110m in various ranges of Miocenic sandstone interspersed with clay.
The well was the subject of an intensive data acquisition campaign including sampling of fluids in the various levels found to be mineralized. The well will now be abandoned minerally.
Preliminary accumulation estimates after the data acquired on Ken Bau 2X indicate a discovery of about 200 to 250 billion m3 of raw gas in place with 400 to 500 million barrels of associated condensate.
The results of Ken Bau 2X confirm the importance of the discovery made in 2019 and the commitment of Eni Vietnam and its partner Essar E&P to quickly delineate its potential, despite the fact that the operations were conducted in a particularly challenging period due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Eni Vietnam is the operator of Block 114 with 50% participation interest; Essar E&P holds the remaining 50%. On the basis of these results, Eni Vietnam and its partner are planning a further well in Ken Bau and in the same Song Hong Basin, where Eni operates with 100% interest the nearby Block 116, a new prospecting and drilling activity.
The gas market in Vietnam is growing rapidly, in response to the steady progress of the national GDP and the consequent development of gas-fired power generation plants powered by domestic resources and, in the future, by imported LNG. Ken Bau's discovery represents an opportunity to quickly address this emerging demand.
Eni has been present in Vietnam since 2013 and operates 4 blocks located in the under-explored reservoirs of Song Hong and Phu Khan, in the offshore part of Central Vietnam.
ENI press release