At a working session with Vietsovpetro leaders on October 22, Mr Khrischenko said these achievements will provide a firm foundation on which Vietsovpetro can build after the joint venture contract ends in 2010. He added that Vietnam is not only Russia’s trading partner but also a link between Russia and other countries in Southeast Asia. He insisted that the two countries should continue to expand co-operation in such fields as aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, energy saving technologies and medical equipment.

Currently, Vietsovpetro has 6,500 workers, of whom 500 are Russian. During 28 years of development, the enterprise has extracted 182 million tonnes of crude oil, supplied 20.8 billion cu.m of gas, and built 18 fixed platforms, 445km of underground oil pipelines, two jack-up platforms, three floating storage and offloading (FSO) units and a fleet consisting of 17 different types of ships.