The first seven wells in the Su Tu Den Dong Bac (Northeast Black Lion) oil field off the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau have been put into operation, said Cuu Long joint operating company (Cuu Long JOC).

The operation has raised Cuu Long JOC’s crude oil production to 95,000 barrels a day, a 20 percent increase over the current level.

An official ceremony to welcome the first oil flow from oil field will be held in Hanoi on June 9.

Cuu Long JOC is a joint operating joint venture company between PetroVietnam, who holds 50 percent of stake, and a number of foreign operators, namely the UK’s ConocoPhillips Cuu Long Co. Ltd, with 23.25 percent, the Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC), with 14.25 percent, the RoK company SK, with 9 percent and Monaco’s Geopetrol company, with 3.5 percent.

It was set up in September 1998 to conduct oil exploration and production in Block 15-1 on Vietnam ’s continental shelf./.