Hanoi (VNA) ꦯ– The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) recorded the highest revenue in October as compared to other months since the beginning of the year, helping the group operate in the black and accomplish assigned financial targets in 2023 to mid-November, said General Director of Petrovietnam Le Manh Hung.

Although many socioeconomic indexes saw improvement, recent forecasts have shown that economic growth will continue to be challenging,  particularly production due to weak consumer demand globally. According to Pham Van Phong, General Director of PV GAS, the power sector's gas consumption is forecast to decrease by about 18% in 2023 as compared to 2022 and continue to decline in 2024, thus affecting production. PV GAS's total gas volume ashore in 2024 is estimated to be only about 6.3 billion cubic metres, much lower than the expected 7.7 billion cubic metres for 2023. Along with that, mechanisms to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) for electricity production is extremely difficult. Predictions for 2024 reveal it will still not be possible to sell LNG for the power sector.

Petrovietnam has made enormous efforts to maintain production and business activities to achieve positive business results compared to September. Specifically, oil output in October reached 0.85 million tonnes, exceeding the monthly plan by 4.2%.
ꦬ In the first ten months of this year, the group tapped 8.7 million tonnes of oil, surpassing the 10-month target by 13.1%. The total gas production in October reached 0.62 billion cubic metres, exceeding the monthly plan by 4.6%. For 10 months overall, output reached 6.38 billion cubic meters, 9.7% higher than the plan.

In addition, electricity production in October reached 1.91 billion kWh, exceeding the monthly plan by 2.4%. Overall, the 10-month figure hit 19.54 billion kWh, up 1.7% compared to the target and an increase of 46.2% year-on-year. Petroleum production (excluding products of Nghi Son Refinery-NSRP) was 635,400 tonnes last month, exceeding the monthly plan by 18.4%, and 6.08 million tonnes in 10 months, surpassing the year's plan by 10%. Total revenue of the group in October was estimated at 87.2 trillion VND (3.6 billion USD), 44% higher than the monthly target.  The 10-month figure reached 745 trillion VND, exceeding the year's plan by 10%. Thanks to those results, Petrovietnam continues to hold the leading position in PROFIT500 ranking - Top 500 most profitable enterprises in Vietnam in 2023 by Vietnam Report. Chairman of the Board of Members of Petrovietnam Hoang Quoc Vuong emphasised that the Prime Minister has recently approved the group's restructuring project until 2025. Therefore, units that must be restructured will need specific programmes and plans to achieve the plan goals. The chairman said that after the recent important step in the Block B-O Mon gas-to-power project chain, units participating in the project need to deploy and monitor progress. For units that have not yet completed their production and business plans assigned by the group's board of members, they must continue making efforts in the remaining months of the year. The group’s General Director Le Manh Hung proposed to establish a steering committee to implement the group's restructuring project in order to clearly analyse the work for each field, and provide specific solutions to successfully complete the tasks according to the project./.