HÀ NỘI – Việt Nam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) hopes to add 15 million tonnes oil to reserves in both 2019 and 2020, heard the company’s conference to implement exploitation plan held in Vũng Tàu City on Thursday.

PVN said this was not an easy target as investments in upstream production in Việt Nam had not recovered since oil prices fell to low levels in recent years.

In addition, the exploitation output of oil fields were dropping significantly because most were reaching their reserve limits. Thus, it was important to hasten the search for potential oil and gas fields to increase reserves, PVN said.

The PVN urged the Law on Petroleum 1993 should be amended to encourage investments in upstream business amidst the gradual exhaustion of oil and gas natural reserves.

Statistics showed that investments in searching for oil and gas reserves annually in 2016-18 were equivalent to a third of the sum in 2011-15.

Experts said it was critical to develop mechanisms to attract investment in oil and gas, especially in upstream production, which plays a significant role in the country’s marine economic development strategy.

Proper policies to encourage the development of small and marginal oil fields should be developed, the PVN said, adding that putting marginal oil fields into exploitation was a solution to cope with exhausting oil and gas reserves.

It was important to choose appropriate technical solutions and management solutions to be applied at marginal fields to enhance their efficiency.

Increasing reserves was the first priority of the PVN in 2019 to ensure production output, the PVN said.

The PVN reported the total exploited oil and gas output at 3.85 million tonnes in the first two months of this year, representing an increase of 7 per cent against the company’s target.

It earned revenue of VNĐ111.8 trillion (US$4.8 billion) in January-February.                           

In 2018, the PVN exploited nearly 24 tonnes of oil equivalent and add 12.34 million tonnes of reserves.

Crude oil exports

Statistics of the General Department of Customs showed that in February, Việt Nam exported more than 232,250 tonnes crude oil to earn more than $112 million, representing a drop of 52.3 per cent in volume and 50.4 per cent in value over the previous month.

The average export price of crude oil in February hit $482.6 per tonne, up by 4 per cent.

For the first two months of this year, crude oil exports hit 719,259 tonnes, worth $337.3 million, up 7.1 per cent in volume but down 7.9 per cent in value compared to the same period last year.

China was the largest importer of Việt Nam’s crude oil in January-February with volume of 320,500 tonnes and value of $150.6 million, up 86 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively.

Thailand came second with import value reaching $94.35 million, up by 19.3 per cent.

Việt Nam’s crude oil exports to Malaysia posted the highest increase rate in the first two months of this year, up 107.9 per cent in volume to 93,462 tonnes, worth $42.21 million, up by 75 per cent in value.

Việt Nam also imported 1.46 million tonnes crude oil in January-February, worth $635.4 million, 9.1 times higher in volume and 15.2 times higher in value than the same period last year. — VNS