Vietnam, Russia to Implement Joint Energy Deals in 2014

Vietnamese and Russian companies are expected to carry out a number of nuclear and oil and gas projects next year as part of the joint statement released by the two countries in November. The deals include four oil and gas projects signed between the state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or Petrovietnam (PVN) and its Russian partners namely Rosneft, Gazprom and Zarubezneft during the Hanoi visit by President Vladimir Putin last month. Vietnam and Russia will build a factory next year to produce gas for industrial engines and continue its joint working sessions on nuclear power projects while Gazprom Neft and PVN will work on a deal on expansion Vietnam’s Dung Quat oil refinery. Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Andrey Kovtun said at a press conference last week that representatives from the two governments have finalized a supplementary document of the Russia-Vietnam Intergovernmental Agreement signed in 2010, which would allow the Russian-Vietnamese Vietsovepetro to exploit oil and gas in Russia. The two countries have recently established a joint task force to boost Russia’s priority investment projects in Vietnam, he added. Russia currently has 93 investment projects in Vietnam with the total registered capital of over $1.93 billion while the latter has invested in 17 projects in the former with total registered capital of $2.4 billion. Energy is a traditional strategic area of cooperation between Vietnam and Russia, bringing in significant sources of income for both sides. Since 1991, the two countries have signed more than 60 cooperation agreements in the fields of oil and gas, nuclear power, economics-trade, education-training and culture-science. (Vietnam Investment Review Dec 30 p11)