The coastal city of Vũng Tàu is often referred to as Vietnam’s “black gold mine.” Known as a weekend getaway for Ho Chi Minh City residents, Vũng Tàu is also the heart of Vietnam’s oil industry. The country’s first commercial offshore oil field, Bạch Hổ, was discovered near Vũng Tàu in the 1970s. Major global oil companies—including Russia’s Zarubezhneft, Malaysia’s Petronas, and Britain’s Harbour Energy—have rushed to tap into the lucrative reserves off Vũng Tàu’s shores.
Vũng Tàu is also where SK Group’s long-held dream of turning a “resource-poor nation” into an oil producer—a vision dating back to the late Chairman Chey Jong-hyon—is becoming reality. Driving southeast from Ho Chi Minh City on the highway, the urban skyline gradually gives way to the open sea. Stepping out of the car, the thick, humid air is the first sign of arrival in this port city.
At SK Earthon’s platform construction site (visited on the 12th, local time), workers were busy welding the jacket and topside for the Golden Camel structure in Block 15-1/05. Despite the sweltering 86°F heat, laborers in long sleeves and pants focused intently on their tasks. Nearby, materials awaited use, and trucks shuttled steel beams back and forth.
The massive steel jacket, assembled horizontally, formed an intricate web of red-hot beams absorbing the tropical heat—resembling a sprawling industrial jungle. Upon completion, the entire structure will be loaded onto a transport vessel and secured to the ocean floor using 328-foot foundation piles.
This steel jacket serves as the support base for the topside, the crude oil processing facility. When connected to a drilling rig, it enables direct extraction operations. The extracted hydrocarbons will be processed on the 230×230-foot topside structure. When fully assembled with both jacket and topside, the production platform will stand 295 feet tall—equivalent to a 40-story skyscraper—with a total weight of 8,000 metric tons.
SK Earthon began constructing the platform in October last year with a $280 million investment. The jacket is 75% complete, while the topside is at 30%. “We aim to finish the jacket by July and move it offshore by October or November to start drilling,” said Ahn Hyung-jin, SK Earthon’s Ho Chi Minh project manager. Initially, only half of the platform’s capacity will be used—4 out of 8 slots—enabling production from 12 wells.
Once the topside is completed by August next year, the platform will be fully operational by 2029. Production is set to begin in October 2025, with peak output reaching 20,000 barrels per day (bpd). SK Earthon will take 5,000 bpd (its 25% stake). With this new block supplementing its 1998 investment in Block 15-1, SK expects a major boost in Vietnam’s crude production.
SK Earthon’s resource development success story began in Peru. Starting with an 8% stake in Block 8 in 1996, it expanded to Blocks 88 and 56. After its first gas production in Block 88 in 2004, Peru now contributes approximately 44,000 bpd (as of 2025).
Bolstered by this success, SK entered Vietnam—home to an estimated 4.4 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves. The company zeroed in on the Cửu Long Basin, Vietnam’s most prolific offshore area, accounting for over 50% of the country’s oil and gas output. The basin is also a regional hotspot for exploration.
Notably, Cửu Long’s reserves are oil-weighted—a lucrative advantage, as oil typically commands higher prices than gas. The crude here is high-quality (API 34+), low-sulfur, and easy to refine, enhancing its market value.
SK holds four blocks in Cửu Long. After investing in Block 15-1, it adopted a “clustering strategy” (focusing on core areas) to develop adjacent blocks: 15-1/05 (2007), 15-2/17 (2019), and 16-2 (2020).
The approach has worked. By exploring near producing blocks, SK is unlocking new cash cows in Vietnam.
Block 15-1 is Vietnam’s second-largest producer by cumulative output. Since 2003, SK has produced approximately 3,300 bpd (net, 2025 basis), hitting 400 million barrels total in 2023.
In Block 15-1/05, SK struck additional oil at the Red Camel structure last month, following the Golden Camel discovery. Test production succeeded, and Block 15-2/17 is under appraisal after January’s Golden Sea Lion discovery (10,000 bpd test rate). Industry watchers predict 15-2/17 could be Cửu Long’s biggest find in a decade, with potential reserves exceeding 170 million barrels (~18% of South Korea’s annual oil consumption).
Meanwhile, SK-operated Block 16-2 is progressing. After a 2023 discovery, SK plans additional drilling at the Red Hippo structure next month using the same rig that hit oil at Red Camel.
“With stable output from 15-1 and three more blocks coming online, Vietnam could replicate SK’s Peru success as a long-term cash generator,” said Roh Jeong-yong, SK Earthon’s Southeast Asia lead.
