Jadestone step closer to development of offshore gas fields in Vietnam

Jadestone Energy has received approval for Outline Development Plans (“ODP”) for its gas fields located offshore Southwest Vietnam.

The approval was granted by Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MOIT”) for the Nam Du and U Minh gas fields in block 46/07 and block 51.

According to Jadestone, the approval serves as a formal starting point for the development of these fields. Front End Engineering and Design (“FEED”) work, and negotiations of a Gas Sales Agreement (“GSA”) will begin immediately, Jadestone said.

Paul Blakeley, President and Chief Executive Officer: “I am delighted by this key approval, which we accept as a strong vote of confidence in Jadestone’s ability to deliver these offshore gas developments, which are so deeply important for Vietnam…This is a perfect example of one of the central strands of our strategy, which we unveiled 18 months ago, which is to add value by commercializing near-term undeveloped discoveries, especially gas fields with logical ties to the gas-hungry domestic markets in Southeast Asia.”

The company’s ODPs propose commercializing the Nam Du and U Minh fields, which contain high quality, low CO2 gas resource, as stand-alone developments, utilizing existing infrastructure including a nearby pipeline to feed the onshore Ca Mau power complex and adjacent 800,000 tonne/year fertilizer plant.

As of January 1, 2016, the fields were estimated by LR Senergy to hold recoverable 2C resources of 202 bcf gas and 0.7 million bbls of liquids.

Jadestone plans to complete FEED work and GSA negotiations prior to submitting a Field Development Plan by approximately 3Q 2019. The target for first gas production remains late 2021.