The Gazprom Headquarters hosted a regular meeting of Gazprom’s Central Subsurface Use and Licensing Management Commission headed by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom's Management Committee.

The meeting examined the issue with regard to Gazprom’s obtaining the right to subsurface use at investments blocks 129 – 132 offshore the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Background:

Gazprom’s Central Subsurface Use and Licensing Management Commission is a permanent body established for improving the management efficiency and raw material base development at Gazprom Group.

The development strategy of Gazprom as a global energy company is targeted at building the entire gas chain from hydrocarbon production to marketing in new markets and based on production capacities located outside Russia.

As part of this strategy Gazprom is developing hydrocarbon reserves offshore Venezuela, Vietnam, India and the Caspian Sea, and is considering the possibility of participating in oil and gas projects in Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Libya and Pakistan.

In 2008 Gazprom and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation Petrovietnam signed the Agreement on Further Cooperation, including on deeper cooperation in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam offshore so as to explore and develop blocks 129, 130, 131, 132.

On September 11, 2000 Gazprom and Petrovietnam signed the Contract on block 112 (Republic of Vietnam offshore). The contract contemplates searching for, exploring, producing and marketing hydrocarbons.

In August 2007 Vietgazprom, a Joint Operating Company of Gazprom and Petrovietnam, reported a commercial gas inflow (up to 400 thousand cu m/d) while testing the first exploratory well in Bao Wang during its prospecting activities in block 112, Gulf of Bac Bo. The well stream was also reported to contain gas condensate.