The proposals were cleared by Vietnam's national oil company PetroVietnam. Soco has more than 28 percent interest in the 16-1 block, which is operated by the Hoang Long Joint Operating Company.
On getting final approval from the Governmental of Vietnam, expected this month, work will start immediately at the appraisal areas, in anticipation of drilling a well in 2010, Soco said.
Soco, an FTSE-250 company, has interests in Vietnam, Thailand, the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) and Angola.
In October, Soco confirmed it had received an approach from a potential buyer for the majority of its asset portfolio, widely believed to be its Vietnam operations.
Soco shares were down 2 percent at 1261 pence at 0950 GMT, while FTSE Mid 250 Index was down 0.8 percent at 6824.94.
(Reporting by Kumar Alagappan in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier) Keywords: SOCO/ (kumar.alagappan@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 75427717; Reuters Messaging: kumar.alagappan@thomsonreuters.com)
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