Delegates at the workshop (Source: www.baohomnay.com)Hanoi (VNA) – An international workshop on the assessment ofshale energy in Asia, under the second phase of the unconventional oil and gasresources project, took place in Hanoi on April 23.
The event was jointly held by the CoordinatingCommittee for Geoscience Programmes in East & Southeast Asia (CCOP), the KoreaInstitute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), and the VietnamPetroleum Institute (VPI).
Dr. Byeong-Kook Son, head of KIGAM’s oil and gasresearch group, introduced the results of the assessment in 13 sedimentarybasins and 21 shale formations in Asia.
He cited the latest update of the shale oil andgas reserves in Asian countries as follows: Malaysia 8.19 trillion cubic feet(TCF) (equivalent to 232 billion cu.m); the Philippines 149.8 TCF (4,242billion cu.m), Vietnam 77 TCF (2,180 billion cu.m), Indonesia 58.12 TCF (1,646billion cu.m), the Republic of Korea 72.5 TCF (2,053 billion cu.m), and Laos 51TCF (1,444 billion cu.m).
Prof. Dr. Azara N.Tucuncu, from the US-based UnconventionalNatural Gas and Oil Institute (UNGI)’s petroleum engineering department, saidthe research and exploitation of non-traditional resources like shale oil andgas require huge costs.
He suggested that the Vietnamese Government put forth specific policies tosupport oil and gas companies, such as the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group(PetroVietnam or PVN).
PVN could also collaborate with foreign partners in the field, he recommended.
According to Dr. Trinh Xuan Cuong, deputydirector of the VPI, his institute is cooperating with domestic and foreignpartners to carry out long-term research programmes on unconventional oil andgas.
The VPI is conducting research on the characteristicsand prospects of gas hydrates in the East Sea, shale oil and gas in sedimentarybasins on the continental shelf of Vietnam, and coal-bed methane in Hanoi,Thanh Hoa-Nghe An, and Tuy Hoa. –VNA
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