OREANDA-NEWS. The President and CEO of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam), the national oil company, Do Van Hau, and the Chief Executive Officer of Eni, Paolo Scaroni, today signed an agreement in Hanoi for the joint assessment of unconventional hydrocarbons potential of the country. The agreement follows the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two companies on 21 January 2013 in Rome, which provides Petrovietnam with the opportunity to expand its international activities and the opportunity for Eni to consolidate its presence in Vietnam.

The study will be carried out by a mixed Petrovietnam-Eni team and will benefit from Eni’s substantial wealth of knowledge and proprietary expertise.

With this agreement, Eni takes another step forward in its strategy of strengthening its presence in Asia, a region with very high growth potential that presents great opportunities in terms of upstream and the market.

Eni has been present in Vietnam since June 2012 through a 50% participation and the operatorship of three exploration blocks located in the prolific Song Hong basin in the Gulf of Tonkin, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.