Vietnamese oil and gas explorer, PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) celebrated the first commercial oil flow from the Algerian Bir Seba field, Vietman Net reported.

The Bir Seba fields in Sahara Desert, founded in 2009 with a total capital of $1.26b, was implemented through a joint venture between PVEP, Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas company Sonatrach, and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production Company with respective stakes of 40%, 25%, and 35%.

PVEP-Algeria’s Director, Hoang Ngoc Dong, said that the project had drilled 16 wells to the date in the first phase, tapping nearly 20,000b/d. In the second phase, the total output is expected to increase to 40,000b/d in early 2020.

It is the PVEP’s first overseas project launched in 2003 with an international bidding, according to the Vietnamese news’s website TouiTrenews.