Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Oiland Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has been reviewing legal regulations to identifyany obstacles to its operations and propose settlement recommendations.

The Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress views institutional reform and completion as one of thethree strategic breakthroughs for the 13th tenure.

In the Government’s action planto carry out the resolution, an important issue is to push ahead withcompleting institutions, mechanisms, and policies to develop the economy andsociety, promote production and business activities, and guarantee socialsecurity. The Cabinet also pledged to tackle institutional bottlenecks in thistenure.

During its operation,PetroVietnam has realised that many legal regulations have affected itsoperations.

Not only hoping for the currentOil and Gas Law to be amended to create a driving force for sustainabledevelopment, the enterprise has also been working to review obstacles thatlegal regulations have caused for its operations so as to submit revisions tocompetent agencies.

At present, there are about60 contents and issues related to legal rules that need to be amended to createoptimal conditions for the development of not only PetroVietnam but also otherbusinesses, such as some stipulations in the Law on Public Investment, the Lawon the Management and Use of State Capital, the Law on Enterprises, and the Lawon Bidding.

For example, under the existingLaw on Bidding, PetroVietnam will encounter difficulties in executinginvestment projects, especially its joint projects with foreign partners, whichmay lead to slow implementation and subsequently, economic losses.

In addition, given the oiland gas industry’s specific features, a number of problems facing PetroVietnam’soperations have yet to be mentioned, fully mentioned, or properly mentioned incurrent laws.

Apart from reviewing legal barriers,the group is also coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to draft the revised Oil and Gas Law, which is expected to be submitted to the NationalAssembly at the coming session.

PetroVietnam General DirectorLe Manh Hung said the obstacles caused by legal regulations have been directlyaffecting most of operational aspects of the firm and its subordinate companies.

In the current context,natural oil and gas resources are declining while it is increasingly difficultto conduct exploration and production in offshore deep-water areas. Besides, mechanismsand policies for exploration and production activities, as well as investmentin new projects, are facing numerous difficulties and challenges. Incentives toattract investment into oil and gas exploration and production have yet to proveattractive enough.

These problems haveinfluenced the core business areas of PetroVietnam, Hung pointed out, addingthat if issues in other aspects are also not resolved in a timely manner, thegroup may lack sufficient conditions and basis to keep following its strategy,which in turn may impact the country’s economic and energy security.

Making strong moves toeradicate institutional hurdles to enterprises as ordered by Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh, PetroVietnam has been reviewing legal regulations to identifyobstacles and propose appropriate amendments.

It expects the suggestionswill help tackle difficulties in its management, production, and businessactivities, thereby giving it more chances to contribute to national economicdevelopment in the time ahead.

PetroVietnamreported that its pre-taxprofit in the first half of 2021 surpassed the target by165 percent and tripled from that in the same period last year, reaching 21.3trillion VND (934 million USD).

Its crude oil and condensate output exceeded 15 percent of thetarget, helping to fulfill the goal of tapping 9.68 million tonnes of oilequivalent. The output of petrol, oil and fertiliser was also higher than the respectivetargets.

The group’s total revenue hit 299.3 trillion VND, up 20percent from the revenue target and 22 percent on a yearly basis. Itscontribution to the State budget soared by 33 percent to 45.2 trillion VND.

With return on equity (ROE) reaching 4.6 percent in the first six months, PetroVietnam was among oil and gas companies with the best ROE in theworld./.