Vietnam to pump 16 mln T oil a year to 2005-report
HANOI - Vietnam plans stable output of crude oil,
the country's highest exporter earner, until 2005 with production
of around 16 million tonnes a year (321,315 barrels per day),
official media reported on Monday.
The Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper quoted a masterplan for the 2001-
2005 period compiled by the state oil monopoly, Petrovietnam, under
which the corporation's output would change little during the five-
year period.
The paper said Petrovietnam would tap 16.3 million tonnes of crude
oil and two billion cubic metres of associated natural gas in 2002,
slightly higher than its target for 2001 of 16 million tonnes of
crude and two billion cubic metres of gas.
Production at Vietnam's key Bach Ho (White Tiger) oilfield has been
running at its maximum capacity of around 38,000 tonnes per day.
Dau Tu quoted a Petrovietnam forecast that annual gas output would
jump to between four billion and seven billion cubic metres per
year during the 2003-2005 period.
The increase in gas output would come from the offshore Nam Con Son
gas basin, owned jointly by BP Amoco , India's ONGC Videsh LTD -- a
subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corp
-- and Petrovietnam, which aims for first gas next year.
Vietnam remains a minor oil player by world standards and has no
major refinery. It exports most of its crude and imports oil
products.
The country has pumped an estimated 15.47 million tonnes of crude
in the first 11 months of this year, up 6.1 percent from the same
period last year, according to the government General Statistics
Office (GSO).
In October, the GSO revised down its forecast for 2001's annual
crude exports to 17 million tonnes, still up 12.9 percent on 2000,
from the 17.5 million tonnes it forecast previously for the full
year.
The government has projected the value of crude exports to drop to
$2.4 billion in 2005 from a forecast $3.3 billion this year as
Vietnam's first oil refinery would become operational from either
2002 or 2003. The value in 2010 would be $1.6 billion. (1
tonne=7.33 barrels)
Reuters - December 17
For Dung Quat refinery
HANOI - PetroVietnam, the state-owned Oil & Gas Corp., will sign a
deal borrowing $250 million from the Russian Finance Ministry later Tuesday for the
construction of its Dung Quat Oil Refinery Project, a corporation official said Tuesday.
The $1.3 billion Dung Quat refinery - currently under construction by Vietross, a joint
venture between PetroVietnam and Russia's Zarubezneheft - had already secured
$800 million from its two partners, the official told Dow Jones Newswires.
Dung Quat, in the central province of Quang Ngai, will be Vietnam's first oil refinery.
Work began on the project in 1998 but was delayed by a lack of funds, observers
said.
"We still need $500 million to complete it, and Russia's Finance Ministry has agreed to
lend half of it. The remainder, PetroVietnam will borrow from Bank For Foreign Trade
of Vietnam, or Vietcombank," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires - December 18
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