MANILA, Philippines - Philex Mining Corp., the country’s largest copper and gold mining firm, said its affiliate, Pitkin Petroleum Plc, discovered a major oil and gas field in offshore Vietnam—the first in Asia this year.

It said this proved the soundness of its decision to diversify its copper and gold mining operations to include the oil exploration business. This investment is likewise expected to provide Philex with a new revenue stream on top of its copper and gold sales.

Philex owns 21.1 percent of Pitkin, an international upstream oil and gas exploration and production company focused mainly on the Pacific Rim, with operations in Vietnam, Philippines, Peru and the United States.

Through its PetroEnergy Resources Corp., Philex also has small interests in Service Contract 14C or the Galoc oil field in offshore Palawan and the Abouma field in Gabon, which are both already producing oil.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex said Pitkin had successfully completed the drill stem testing of the Ca Rong Do (Red Emperor) discovery well on Block 07/03 in offshore Vietnam, which flowed oil at a combined rate of 3,265 barrels per day plus 8.1 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

Two of the reservoir zones were tested and showed positive results for oil and gas.