Russian deputy premier in Vietnam for energy talks
HANOI - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko arrived in the
Vietnamese capital Friday to discuss energy and technical issues with
Moscow's one-time benefactor.
Khristenko - in Hanoi to attend the eighth session of the joint commission
on trade, economic and scientific cooperation - was due to meet Prime
Minister Phan Van Khai and communist party General Secretary Nong Duc
Manh, according to an official schedule.
"He will discuss general issues of cooperation, including energy, oil and
gas, and education," Russian embassy First Secretary Vladimir S. Tokmakov
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Khristenko is reportedly not to discuss Russia's slated pull-out from Cam
Ranh Bay, its long-time military base along Vietnam's south coast, where
Moscow maintained a presence until it announced it would not renew its lease.
"Cam Ranh Bay is not part of the commission," Tokmakov said.
The three-day joint commission, chaired by Khristenko and his
counterpart Nguyen Manh Cam, a Russia expert, is expected to hash out
cooperation in a variety of trade and energy fields, including how to boost oil
and gas production.
The Soviets back in the late 1970s, were the first to help Vietnam exploit
its significant offshore blocks, and crude oil is today one of communist-ruled
Vietnam's largest exports.
Bilateral trade reached 550 million dollars last year, up 30 per cent from
2000, according to government figures.
Khristenko's three-day visit ends Sunday.
Deutsche Presse Agentur - January 18, 2002.
Vietnam, Russia, Japan in new oil, gas deal
HANOI - State oil monopoly Petrovietnam said it would sign on
Saturday a product-sharing contract with Russian state oil firm Zarubezhneft and
Japan's Idemitsu to explore and tap oil and gas off Vietnam's southern coast.
Nguyen Xuan Nham, general director of Petrovietnam, told Reuters on Friday the
three parties would sign the new deal for joint operation in the block 09-3, near the
country's key oilfield Bach Ho (White Tiger) and Rong (Dragon).
"The parties will form a venture to oversee the joint operation in the block," he said.
He said the product-sharing contract, its 45th so far with foreign oil firms since 1988,
would be signed in Hanoi.
A Russian embassy official said Zarubezhneft would be "the lead partner" in the
contract. He did not elaborate.
Nham also declined to provide details of the deal but said it would be similar to the
contract Petrovietnam signed with Malaysia and Indonesia last week.
Last Tuesday, Petrovietnam entered a deal with one of its affiliates, Malaysia's
Petronas Cargali Overseas Bhd and Indonesia's Pertamina to jointly explore blocks
10 and 11.1 in the Nam Con Son basin.
Petrovietnam has said if the deal was a success, it would get 50 percent profit and the
rest would be split among the other three parties. It said the deal would run 25 years if
the contractors found crude, and 30 years if they found gas.
Nham was speaking ahead of a Russia-Vietnam periodic government meeting aimed
at boosting mutual cooperation in economy, trade, science and technology between
the two.
Khristenko meets Vietnamese leaders
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko arrived in Hanoi on Friday to
co-chair the meeting with his counterpart, Nguyen Manh Cam.
Khristenko was scheduled to hold talks with Vietnam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai
and Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh.
On Saturday they would witness the signing ceremony of the oil and gas deal between
Petrovietnam, Zarubezhneft and Idemitsu.
During his talks with the Vietnamese government, Khristenko was expected to discuss
steps in the Russian withdrawal from Vietnam's Cam Ranh Bay naval base, announced
last year by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Last October Putin said Russia would close a Cold War Cuban base and withdraw
from the Cam Ranh Bay from this month.
Last Thursday, asked about Cam Ranh, Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman,
Phan Thuy Thanh, said the two nations would work out details of the handover in line
with the spirit of "a strategic partnership".
Reuters - January 18, 2002.
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