~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Vietnam leader urges state oil company to halt slump in output

HANOI - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam said Monday that Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, or PetroVietnam, should move urgently to open new fields and halt a drop in output.

Vietnamese crude oil production totaled 17.3 million tons last year, or about 355,000 barrels a day, down 8 percent from 18.8 million tons, or about 386,000 barrels a day, in 2005, according to figures provided by PetroVietnam. The decline marked the second consecutive drop in production after a near- tripling of output in the preceding decade. The fall results largely from a drop in output from the Russian-Vietnamese Bach Ho field that has been operating for two decades. PetroVietnam should find ways to stem the production declines, Dung told company officials.

"Crude oil production reached a plateau and has slowed down," Dung said. "You should have a reasonable, effective production plan for this precious natural resource, and at the same time, you also should have an urgent plan to bring new fields into a production phase to cover Bach Ho's decline." Output from Bach Ho last year slumped 8 percent to 9.15 million tons, or about 191,000 barrels a day, from 9.99 million tons, or about 208,000 barrels a day, in 2005, according to figures from Vietsovpetro, which operates the field. "Bach Ho's output will decrease every year, but the rate of the decrease will depend on our investment in the field," the chief executive of PetroVietnam, Tran Ngoc Canh, said in an interview. "It can decline more quickly if we don't have suitable technical solutions."

PetroVietnam expects overall production this year to increase 1 percent to 17.5 million tons and is carrying out studies "to work out a new production outline" for Bach Ho, said Canh. "Some new oil fields will be brought into operation as well," he said, declining to give details.

Bloomberg News - January 29, 2007.