Soco stocks fall amid output plunge

London-headquartered international oil company Soco’s stocks plunged 17 percent on Wednesday after the announcement that its production wells in Vietnam are underperforming. The company has experienced difficulty maintaining profits and global production levels since oil prices began to fall mid-2014.

Soco will be revising its field development plan in Vietnam and will attempt to meet production targets. The company saw its net profits fall by $79.8 million in the first half of 2015, compared to the same period in 2014.

The company lost potential output last month when it abandoned a controversial exploration licence at Virunga national park in Uganda, after halting operations there in June 2014, amid widespread backlash and divestments from major stakeholders in protest.

The company’s production volume in the first half of 2015 was also down by 2,104 barrels of oil per day, compared to the same period in 2014. Soco CEO Ed Story stated in a company report in August that the company had taken initial steps to explore in blocks 125 and 126 in Vietnam to increase output and was planning to spud a well offshore the Republic of Congo early in 2016.