HÀ NỘI — The ten members of the ASEAN Council on Petroleum (ASCOPE) agreed this week to boost co-operation.

ASCOPE’s members made the commitment at their 83rd national committee meeting in Việt Nam held from May 15 to 17 in the central city of Đà Nẵng.

The participants agreed to promote the reuse of waste catalysts in refineries, upgrade and expand refineries, and optimise the model of heat exchanger cleaning and the level of operating capacity.

In addition, ASCOPE negotiated to enhance an emergency response system for gas shortages to address energy security among ASEAN countries.

Nguyễn Quỳnh Lâm, deputy general director of Việt Nam’s National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and chairman of ASCOPE National Committee for Việt Nam, said Việt Nam had provided initiatives on the provision of facilities and logistics within member countries and other ideas in order to implement ASCOPE goals and ensure members’ interests.

The Council also agreed to continue developing the guidelines for decommissioning the region’s substantial stock of ageing offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

In the previous meeting in Cambodia last year, ASCOPE decided to change its vision and mission, organisational structure, model, content of activities and priority projects in line with the directions of the ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting.

ASCOPE, established in 1975, has ten members including Brunei’s national petroleum company PetroleumBRUNEI, Ministry of Mines and Energy Cambodia (MME), Indonesia’s national oil company Pertamina, Lao State Fuel Company,  Malaysia’s oil and gas company Petronas, Myanmar’s oil and gas enterprise M.O.G.E, Philippine National Oil Company, Singapore Liquefied Natural Gas, Thailand’s oil and gas company PTT, and Việt Nam’s National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

PetroVietnam joined ASCOPE in 1996 and since then, the group has co-operated with other regional partners to establish boundaries of joint oil exploration areas. — VNS