New guidelines and strategic orientation needed for develop of Vietnam's oil and gas industry

Abstract

On 27 February 2023, in Hanoi, the delegation of the Steering Committee for developing the project "Assessment of the implementation of Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW dated 23 July 2015 of the Political Bureau on strategic orientation to develop Vietnam's oil and gas industry to 2025 in a vision towards 2035" worked with the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam).

Opening the Conference, Mr. Tran Tuan Anh - Member of the Political Bureau, Chairman of the Commission for Economic Affairs of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Steering Committee for developing the project emphasized that the Party and the Government always pay special attention to the oil and gas industry. On July 23, 2015, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW orientating the development strategy for Vietnam's oil and gas industry to 2025 in a vision to 2035. Up to now, Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW has been being deployed for nearly 8 years. Upon the recent context with many changes against the previous forecasts and stemming from the urgent need of creating conditions to develop the Vietnam oil and gas industry in general and the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group in particular in the coming time, the Politburo assigned the Central Economic Commission to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries, branches and agencies in developing a project to assess the implementation of Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW to submit to the Politburo in the 2nd quarter of 2023.
Chairman of the Commission for Economic Affairs of the Party Central Committee Tran Tuan Anh demanded the Conference to focus on discussing and clarifying the implementation of the Development Strategy of the Oil and Gas Industry in Vietnam to 2025 with a vision to 2035 and the achieved results; analysing ongoing difficulties, obstacles, shortcomings, limitations and causes, especially in terms of major guidelines, mechanisms and policies that need the Politburo, the Government and relevant authorities to solve for Petrovietnam and Vietnam's oil and gas industry to grow sustainably; identifying, analysing and clarifying the context and situation (compared to the period before the issuance of Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW) that will have a strong impact on the development of the Vietnam oil and gas industry and Petrovietnam, especially the trends in energy transition, greening and smarting; clarifying the orientation to expand Petrovietnam's fields of operation in association with the restructuring to become a sustainable industry - energy corporation, therein necessarily making clear the potentials and advantages of Petrovietnam in developing renewable energy, particularly offshore wind power; evaluating the ability to exploit the availability of technical infrastructure, specifically oil and gas warehouse as well as experience for developing processing services, fabrication of components and equipment, engineering and installation of energy, offshore wind power constructions, etc.; making proposals to amend and supplement Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW.
Mr. Le Manh Hung - President and CEO of Petrovietnam said, for nearly 8 years implementing Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW, Petrovietnam has faced up with many difficulties, particularly the "double crisis" of the Covid-19 pandemic and the unpredictable fluctuation of oil prices. Despite that, Petrovietnam safely achieved the targets in 2019; spectacularly overcame hardship in 2020; not only recovered but also accelerated development in 2021. And especially in 2022, Petrovietnam have set its historical records in terms of output, nitrogen production, revenue, profit and contributing to the state budget, etc. The brand value of Petrovietnam has been gradually and firmly consolidated, worthy to the trust of the Party and Government leaders and the Vietnamese people.
In the period from 2015 to now, Petrovietnam has coped with the most difficulties in its history of 61-year development; several strategic targets have not been achieved due to problems resulting from relevant mechanisms and policies. Therefore, it is necessary to issue a new Resolution on strategic orientation for the development of Vietnam's oil and gas industry to 2045 such that Petrovietnam continues to develop sustainably and becomes an industry - energy corporation in the new period.
At the Conference, representatives of relevant ministries, branches and member units of Petrovietnam concentrated on analysing the shortcomings, blockages and causes. On that basis, solutions in terms of mechanisms and policies were proposed to increasingly attract resources from all economic sectors and financial institutions within and beyond the country to develop the oil and gas industry. Many opinions at the Conference strongly agreed with the proposal of the Politburo to issue new guidelines and strategic orientations for the development of Vietnam's oil and gas industry in general and the Petrovietnam in particular.
Concluding the Conference, Chairman of the Commission for Economic Affairs of the Party Central Committee Tran Tuan Anh acknowledged and highly appreciated the achievements of Petrovietnam in recent years. He agreed with the analysis and recommendations on improving institutions, ensuring capital for development; on digital transformation, promoting research, application and transfer of technology, improving the quality of human resources, etc. for the sustainable development of Vietnam’s oil and gas industry and Petrovietnam. Mr. Tran Tuan Anh suggested Petrovietnam coordinate with ministries and sectors to thoroughly study relevant contents, learn from international experiences, and continue to comprehensively evaluate the implementation of Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW to consolidate the basis of proposals and recommendations for the Project; assigned the Compiling Team to develop an integrated project, collect opinions exchanged and discussed at the Conference to research, synthesize and submit a draft report to the Politburo as soon as possible.
Receiving those instructions at the Conference, Mr. Hoang Quoc Vuong - Petrovietnam Chairman of the Board of Directors said, the difficulties in the operating scopes and areas, mechanisms and policies, and the challenges caused by the impact of the energy transition and the market, etc. have affected the operation, production, and business efficiency as well as the sustainable development of Petrovietnam in the long-term. These difficulties and challenges need to be all-sided reviewed and assessed to make recommendations on adjustments to Petrovietnam's development strategy to the Party and Government./.