On 27th December, the Oil, Gas and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) coordinated with Petrovietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) to organize a Workshop on “Amendment and supplementation of Decree 124/2017/ND-CP regarding regulations on outward investment in oil and gas activities”.

The workshop was attended by Mr. Nguyen Viet Son - Director of the Oil, Gas and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), representative leaders of ministries/sectors, Committee for Management of State Capital at Enterprises. On the side of Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam), there were Mr. Le Ngoc Son - Vice President, and heads of Divisions. On PVEP’s side, there were Mr. Tran Hong Nam - General Director; leaders in the Board of Directors, Executive Management Board, and representatives of Divisions/ Office of the Corporation.

Overview of the Workshop

At the opening of the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Viet Son - Director of the Oil, Gas and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) emphasized that Decree 124/2017/ND-CP (Decree 124) was issued more than 5 years ago, after that new Investment Law, which officially took effect from 2020, has made Decree 124 no longer suitable and must be replaced by another one. Therefore, the Oil, Gas and Coal Department – the unit in charge of drafting new decree has cooperated with Petrovietnam/PVEP to organize a workshop to listen to ideas from enterprises, contribute to development of the new decree in accordance with current laws, as well as create favorable conditions for enterprises like PVEP to increase effective outward investment, ensuring compliance with the law.

Mr. Nguyen Viet Son, Director of the Oil, Gas and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) spoke at the workshop

In the spirit of sticking to Investment Law 2020 and current legal documents, Mr. Nguyen Viet Son wanted the participants to give specific opinions on the contents to be amended and supplemented in Decree 124 for new decree to be issued soon, solving difficulties and obstacles of Petrovietnam/PVEP in the investment in overseas oil and gas projects.

At the workshop, PVEP’s representative presented an overview of the corporation’s overseas oil and gas projects. PVEP started implementing overseas oil and gas projects from 2000. The number of overseas projects strongly developed in the 2007-2012 period and rapidly decreased in the 2014-2018 period with a variety of contract forms, operating form. PVEP has developed human resources with certain experience in implementing overseas oil and gas projects. Currently, PVEP is implementing 5 oil and gas projects abroad. PVEP’s representative also presented on the legal framework for outward investment activities in the oil and gas sector and some of the main difficulties and obstacles of PVEP. 

Representatives of ministries/sectors, the Committee for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises exchanged, discussed and contributed ideas to develop a decree to replace Decree 124. All agreed that Decree 124 was no longer suitable with the current context, many contents were unclear and inconsistent such as the order of approval of investment policy and the order of investment, decentralization to Petrovietnam, transfer policy, investment termination... and related financial activities.

Petrovietnam Vice President Le Ngoc Son shared his opinion at the workshop

On behalf of the Group’s leaders, Petrovietnam Vice President Le Ngoc Son hoped the Drafting Team and participating ministries/sectors would comment and review the development of a draft decree to replace Decree 124 to soon resolve the basic problems for Petrovietnam/PVEP’s overseas oil and gas investment projects, creating conditions for Petrovietnam/PVEP to improve the efficiency of investment projects in the coming time.

PVEP General Director Tran Hong Nam spoke at the workshop

As emphasized by PVEP’s General Director Tran Hong Nam, in the context of the current strong energy transition, PVEP must continue to increase investment in new oil and gas projects, including participation in overseas oil and gas projects. To do so, PVEP needs to be created favorable conditions, have an appropriate legal framework to implement effective projects and bring in great revenue for the country. Through the workshop, PVEP leaders hoped the Drafting Team and representatives of ministries/sectors would cooperate with Petrovietnam/PVEP to develop new draft decree on outward investment regulations in oil and gas activities completely, appropriately, ensuring the provisions of law, creating conditions for oil and gas enterprises including PVEP to effectively deploy overseas projects.

Participants at the workshop

Concluding the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Viet Son - Director of the Oil, Gas and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) thanked and accepted the comments, suggestions on the draft decree to replace Decree 124 and would work with competent authorities to soon issue new decree.

Source: www.pvn.vn