Hanoi (VNA) – Over thepast 30 years, foreign investors have injected 45 billion USD to oil and gasVietnam, greatly contributing to the growth of the sector, according to the VietnamOil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

In the past, the firmonly signed contracts with foreign contractors on behalf of the Government andperformed the role of managing their activities. PetroVietnam now boasts a fullcapacity of technologies to engage in oil and gas exploration and exploitationactivities inside the country and abroad. This ability matches PetroVietnamwith national oil and gas groups of other countries in the region.

Currently, more than40 foreign oil and gas companies are investing in Vietnam in upstream,midstream and downstream. Chevron from the US leads the way in investment inVietnam, along with KNOC from the Republic of Korea, Gazprom from Russia,Petronas from Malaysia, PTTEP from Thailand, Talisman and Repsol from Spain,ExxonMobil from the US, and Total and Neon Energy from France.

The majority of thecompanies invest in capital contribution with Vietnamese enterprises to performoil contracts. In addition, Vietnam also signed a cooperation agreement with Russiato establish joint ventures which are tasked to conduct oil exploration inRussia and Vietnam. Thank to the cooperation activities, so far, 38 oil and gasfields out of a total of more than 100 oil and gas discoveries have been putinto operation.

In the period, Vietnamsaw an increase in its reserve by 35-40 million tonnes of oil equivalent peryear. The average production output hit 15.5 - 17 million tonnes of oil andover 9 billion cu.m of gas per year. As a result, in the period before 2015,the oil and gas industry annually contributed 20-25% of the total State budget collectionand 18-25% of the country's GDP.

Growing fast

Thanks to itscollaboration with foreign partners, PetroVietnam has accessed many advancedtechnologies, picking up modern and integrated management methods.

According to theVietnam Oil and Gas Association, partnership with foreign contractors in theupstream stage of oil and gas exploration and exploitation has contributed tothe formation of a series of large projects in the midstream and downstream ofthe petroleum industry. These include gas processing plants, gas thermal powerplants, petrochemical refineries and nitrogenous fertilizer plants. These havebeen put into operation and contributed to the development of the country’s economicdevelopment, national industrialisation and modernisation.

Specifically, the oil and gas sector hassuccessfully implemented three national key project clusters/ projects, namelyCa Mau Gas - Electricity – Fertilizer Project Cluster; Dong Nam Bo Gas -Electricity - Fertilizer Project Cluster and Dung Quat Oil Refinery Project. These projects areeffective not only economically but also greatly contributing to thesocio-economic development of the country as a whole and that of the localitieswhere the project are located.

Supplychains of oiland gas technical services for exploration and production activities have also developedstrongly. Many member companies of the PetroVietnam such as PTSC, PV Drilling, PVEP, PVE have provided petroleumtechnical services for oil and gas activities not only inside the country butalso in the region and around the world.

PetroVietnam membercompanies have mastered new technologies and are able to participate in and provide most of thehigh-quality oil and gas serviceswhen called upon. These include seismic surveying, drilling, drillingservices, design survey, construction and installation of oil and gas works, and repairing and building new oil and gasfloating storage facilities. Every year, income from oil and gas technical servicescontributes nearly 30% of the total revenue of thegroup, and accounts for 10% of the PetroVietnam’s Statebudget payment./.