Vietsovpetro joint venture and Vietnam-Russia-Japan Petroleum Company (VRJ) welcomed the first flow of oil from the Nam Rong-Doi Moi oilfield off the coast southern Vietnam on Friday.

Russian-Vietnamese joint venture Vietsovpetro and VRJ invested more than US$342 million drilling and installing 10 oil rigs under an agreement signed last June.

With its four current wells, the oilfield has an output of 700 tons per day.

On the same day, Vietsovpetro started work on the $150 million Rong-Doi Moi gas compressing rig. The project is scheduled to be put into operation by December this year.

Vietsovpetro plans to tap 6-6.2 million tons of crude oil and 595 million cubic meters of gas next year. With an estimated average price of $495 USD per ton, its turnover would be worth more than $3 billion.

The Nam Rong-Doi Moi oilfield is located 135 km southeast of of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Vietnam's oil hub.