PetroVietnam's vice president of E&P Nguyen Tien Long told delegates at the Offshore Technology Conference on Tuesday that the basin holds a remaining reserve potential of between 3 billion and 3.7 billion barrels, with up to 10 recent undeveloped discoveries. Another five are under development.

Exploration in the basin is challenging because of the lack of porosity and the fractured basement reservoir, Nguyen said.

He