Oil bombshell in Vietnam: US giant Murphy finds ASEAN's biggest strike in 20 years

Manila: Murphy Oil just dropped a seismic update: their Hai Su Vang (HSV) “appraisal well” in Vietnam's Cuu Long Basin beat expectations, confirming up to 430+ million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE).

Potentially, it could be the largest discovery since the early 2000s in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to the Journal of Petroleum Technology.

Drilled 40 miles offshore near Ho Chi Minh City, the HSV-2X hit 429 feet of net oil pay across two reservoirs, flowing 6,000 barrels/day of sweet 37° API crude during tests. 

That’s a 1,600-foot hydrocarbon column with bonus upside from untapped shallow zones not even in prior 170-430 MMBOE estimates.​

Murphy Oil reported on January 6, 2026 that its "appraisal well" in Block 15-2/17 in the Cuu Long Basin had encountered 429 ft of "net oil pay" across the same two reservoirs as the 2025 discovery, which was drilled in 149-ft water depth and found 370 ft of net oil pay.

The appraisal well, spudded in October 2025, found 332 ft of pay in the deeper primary reservoir and 97 ft in the shallow reservoir.

Murphy President and CEO Eric Hambly said in a press release that the significant discovery represents a "pivotal moment" for the company’s Vietnam business. 

“The success of HSV-2X not only reinforces the commerciality of the Hai Su Vang field but also sets the stage for a robust development program,” he said.

Vietnam has been producing its own oil since the first offshore oil production began in 1986 from the Bach Ho (White Tiger) field, through a Soviet-Vietnamese joint venture, Vietsovpetro.

This marked the start of the nation's oil and gas industry, with platforms like the early BK-24 platform contributing significantly soon after. 

But output cratered from 365,000 bpd (2005) to under 120,000 bpd (2025) amid industrialisation and refinery booms, flipping it from exporter to importer since 2017. 

This standalone floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) project — with two more wells slated for 2026 — could pump life back into Hanoi’s energy quest for industrialised status by 2045.

Murphy (40% operator) partners with PetroVietnam (35%) and SK Earthon (25%), eyeing first oil soon after Lac Da Vang ramps up.​

In a gas-heavy zone, HSV ranks third post-2000 behind Indonesia’s well — reviving mature-basin fever with better tech and fiscal tweaks.​

Murphy’s Vietnam pivot (post-Malaysia sale) has netted 1.4B BOE discovered regionally since 2002.