(VOVworld)- PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) welcomed the first flow of commercial oil from Bir Seba oil field, lot 433A and 416B during a ceremony in Algeria on Friday.

Vietnamese and Algerian engineers in Bir Seba (Source: VNA)

The project is underway through a joint venture between PVEP, Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Company (PTTEP) and Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas company Sonatrach with a respective stake of 40 percent, 35 percent and 25 percent. It is the first successful project abroad of PVEP and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, which started in 2003 with an international bidding through a surveying process to 2008. Launched in 2009, the Bir Seba joint-venture has a total capital of 1.26 billion USD and is operated by Groupement Bir Seba. Hoang Ngoc Dong, Director of the PVEP-Algeria company, said the joint-venture has drilled 16 wells and tapped nearly 20,000 barrels per day and one million barrels as of November 4. The second phase of the project is expected to begin in the foreseeable future and the total output is to increase to 40,000 barrels per day in early 2020. Vietnam’s oil and gas sector has extended its reaches to many countries worldwide such as Venezuela, Russia and Algeria.