PetroVietnam seeks Filipino partners

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – PetroVietnam, the largest oil and gas exploration firm in Vietnam, is aggressively seeking potential partners to conduct drillings in the Philippines.

Industry sources said PetroVietnam has been sending feelers to oil exploration firms in the Philippines including Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty Ltd.

Nido Petroleum is one of the leading oil and gas exploration and production companies operating in the Philippines, with headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.

It was learned that PetroVietnam is interested in some areas in the Palawan basin.

PetroVietnam had once partnered with state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) in a tripartite agreement which was supposed to explore the South China Sea, particularly the disputed Spratlys Islands.

“They have expressed interest to look at oil and gas exploration business in the Philippines. But there are no final details yet. These are just exploratory and initial communications,” a source said.

“During the meetings at the ASEAN summit, Vietnam’s chairman of Energy said they would be reaching out to other Asian nations for oil and gas exploration ventures.”

The sources added that Vietnam intends to cooperate with other countries in the ASEAN for other investment areas in the region.

Aside from oil and gas, PetroVietnam is also interested in the coal exploration business.

Established in 1977, PetroVietnam, through its various companies and wholly owned subsidiaries, now cover all the operations from oil and gas exploration and production to storage, processing, transportation, distribution and services.

Wholly-owned by the Vietnamese central government, it is responsible for all oil and gas resources in the country and has become Vietnam’s largest oil producer and second-largest power producer.