PetroVietnam the epitome of Vietnam-Russia bilateral ties

Since then, PetroVietnam, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, relations with their Russian counterparts in the industry have developed harmoniously, in line with the overall blossoming of Vietnam-Russia bilateral relations. 

The evolution and growth of the Vietsovpetro, a Vietnamese-Russian joint venture established in 1981 has been an idyllic example of how the cooperative relations between the two nations have matured.

Vietsovpetro started out with only 168 employees and most all of its equipment, techniques and technologies were Russian. It has progressed remarkably and now has over 8,000 highly qualified employees skilled in all phases of the oil business.

It has nurtured young scientists and technicians, encouraging them to take on responsibility for everything from searching, exploring and exploiting oil to teaching them the importance of social responsibility.

With its outstanding track record of accomplishments, Vietsovpetro has been honoured the Labour Hero title twice, Ho Chi Minh Order, Vietnam Gold Star Order, and many other accolades.

The success of the venture has been a tribute to the teamwork and dedication of the venture’s staff to master technologies and fulfil their assigned tasks.

From a small unit with inadequate facilities and weak human resources, Vietsovpetro has weathered all the storms to emerge the largest oil and gas producer in Vietnam and a leading producer in northern Russia.

The Rusvietpetro Company which was formed in 2008 by Zarubezneft (51%) and PetroVietnam (49%) has been has been another shining example of the exemplary cooperative relations between the two nations.

The joint venture has been exploring and exploiting oil and gas at 13 oil fields on 4 plots in the Nhenhexky Autonomous Region in Russia.

Despite all the difficulties and severe weather, Rusvietpetro produced its first industrial oil in September 2010. By the end of 2012, it began exploiting three additional oil fields – North Khosedaiu, Visovoi and West Khosedaiu.

Another brilliant strategic success has been the Gazprom joint venture, which has been in operation for 15 years and currently operates nine oil projects. The Gazpromviet joint venture was formed by Gazprom (51%) and PetroVietnam (49%) to explore the Nagumanov and North Purov oil fields.

In recent years, cooperative ties between PetroVietnam and Gazprom have expanded from oil and gas exploration to the production of Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which has been used to fuel automobiles.

Currently, Vietnam and Russia have been negotiating yet another cooperative project to form a joint venture in this field and they plan to supply LNG gas from the Far East to the Southeast Asian region.

In short, Gazprom, Zarubezhneft, Russia’s largest state-owned oil and gas company and midsized Rosneft have played a strategic position in Vietnam’s economy and ensured national energy security.

Over the past 65 years during times of peace and adversity, Vietnam-Russia bilateral relations have continually expanded. With significant support of former Soviet Union in the past and Russia today, PetroVietnam has become a dominant force in the oil and gas industry.

Recently a PetroVietnam executive was quoted as saying his group is now ready to not only engage in oil & gas projects in Russia, but help Russian oil & gas companies penetrate the ASEAN market, a positive sign we can expect more good things in the future.