Rosneft and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) PetroVietnam have signed a cooperation agreement.
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The agreement provides for the expansion of cooperation between the parties in Russia, Vietnam and third countries in the area of hydrocarbon exploration and production (including offshore), processing, commerce and logistics, as well as staff training.
The parties agreed to consider potential options for joint projects and define the basic terms of cooperation as well as establish a working group for each of the areas of cooperation.
Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Igor Sechin said: "Successfully working with PetroVietnam in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Vietnamese offshore, Rosneft is interested in further expansion of its business in the country, including refining, petrochemicals, commerce and logistics.
"The new stage of cooperation will enable the Company to get a new channel of marketing hydrocarbons in the Asia-Pacific market and create additional synergies due to refining in the region."
Chairman of the Board of Directors of PetroVietnam Nguyen Quoc Khanh noted: “We completely support Rosneft’s plans in Vietnam and welcome further development of cooperation between two companiesâ€.
In a separate statment, Rosneft said that its hydrocarbon production continued to grow in Q1 2016. The level of production reached 5.21 mmboed (64.0 mmtoe), up by 0.2% against Q1 2015 and by 2.5% over the last two quarters.
In Q1 2016 the Company increased its production drilling by 52% against Q1 2015 to 2.08 million meters as established by the targets for the year. The share of in-house services in the total drilling footage consistently exceeds 50%. New wells put into operation grew by 59% compared with Q1 2015 (with horizontal wells share of 30%).
Liquid hydrocarbon production in Q1 2016 returned to the level of Q1 2015 and amounted to 50.2 mmt.
The largest contribution to these positive production dynamics was provided by: RN-Uvatneftegaz (+13.2%), RN-Severnaya Neft (+17.6%), Sakhalin-1 project (+23.1%), Samaraneftegaz (+6.0%), as well as the Northern tip of the Chayvo field (+39.4%).
Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), signed in Moscow a number of documents to strengthen cooperation between the companies.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding on the development of new oil and gas projects, the parties plan to examine further opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and development.
Among the opportunities being considered are joint activities within new projects at licensed blocks on the shelf of Vietnam and in third countries. ■