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RUSSIA, JAPAN TO JOIN VIET NAM IN EXPLORING OIL ON SOUTHERN CONTINENTAL SHELF

   Ha Noi, Jan. 19 (VNA) -- Russian and Japanese explorers will join their Vietnamese partners in discovery and exploiting oil and gas at lot 09.3 of the Cuu Long basin, on the southern continental shelf of Viet Nam.
   A contract to this effect was signed in Ha Noi on Jan. 19, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Manh Cam of Viet Nam and visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Victor Khristenko.
   Russian Zarubezhneft Oil and Gas Company and Japanese Idemitsu Oil & Gas Co. Ltd. will become partners of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) under the contract.
   Lot 09.3, covering 5,600 sq. km., is believed to be a rich oil and gas field. Oil and gas have been tapped from four oilfields: Bach Ho (White Tiger), Rong (Dragon), Rang Dong (Dawn) and Hong Ngoc (Ruby) also in the Cuu Long basin. Oil and gas have recently been found in Su Tu Den (Black Lion) and other sections of the basin.
   The newly-signed contract is the 45th that PetroVietnam has inked with foreign partners since the Law on Foreign Investment was promulgated in Viet Nam in 1988.--VNA