Unocal to Expand Vietnam Exploration

Unocal Corp. said it agreed with state oil company PetroVietnam to more than double the acreage Unocal’s Vietnam unit can explore for oil and natural gas. Unocal acquired a 45% working interest in the new acreage for undisclosed terms. The agreement increases the El Segundo-based oil and natural gas exploration concern’s total exploration area off Vietnam to about 3.6 million acres from about 1.3 million acres. The new area includes about 2.3 million acres directly north of Unocal’s Block B, which was awarded to Unocal and its partners in 1996. Unocal made a large discovery in the Kim Long trend of Block B in December 1997. Two test wells yielded a combined production rate of 52.9 million cubic feet a day of natural gas. It operates the Vietnam project for partners Repsol of Madrid and Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. of Tokyo. Unocal shares fell 94 cents to close at $35.56 on the NYSE.