Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily | Vietnam calls Chinese fishing in Truong Sa ‘illegal’

Vietnam calls Chinese fishing in Truong Sa ‘illegal’ 

Last Updated: Saturday, July 14, 2012 11:50:00

The deployment of 30 Chinese fishing boats to waters around Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago is “illegal” and a “violation” of regional sovereignty, the foreign ministry’s National Border Committee said Friday.

A committee representative made the statement at a press conference when asked about reports in the Chinese media Thursday that a fishing fleet had left Hainan Province for the archipelago’s Chu Thap (Fiery Cross) Reel, Vietnam News Agency reported.
“Vietnam demands that China be responsible for educating and instructing its fishermen about respecting Vietnam’s sovereignty and territory, and conforming to international laws,” the representative was quoted as saying.
In an interview published by Tuoi Tre Saturday, Tran Cong Truc, former chief of the National Border Committee, warned that China, which has recently harassed and violated the sovereignty of both Vietnam and the Philippines, will likely be more aggressive in the future and will try to flaunt its power and dominate negotiations regarding the East Sea.
He called on the government to demonstrate Vietnam’s power, too, by detaining any foreign boats that cross into its national waters illegally. He said those responsible for such violations should be taken to court and prosecuted with solid evidence, especially given that Vietnam’s National Assembly has recently passed the Law on the Sea of Vietnam.
Nguyen Viet Thang, chairman of the Vietnam Fisheries Society, also said that related Vietnamese agencies needed more effective  measures to protect the lives and properties of Vietnamese fishermen.

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PetroVietnam asks foreign firms not to bid on offshore blocks illegally offered by China Chinese ships did not hassle Vietnamese coast guard: report

Early this month, the Vietnamese government’s official news agency published an article denying Chinese media reports that four Chinese marine surveillance ships had blocked and chased Vietnamese Marine Police ships in Vietnamese waters around Truong Sa .
According to the Vietnamese report, Vietnamese maritime authorities asked the Chinese ships to leave because the waters belonged to Vietnam.

Gasoline prices rise All Over the World

Petrol woes mean a gallon of trouble

March 18, 2012

Deputy minister of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Tran Tuan Anh tells how petrol prices and supply sources rising tension in the world could impact on local firms’ performances.
What does the MoIT think about the world market’s volatile oil prices in the past month?
State management agencies and firms closely looked at the global petrol situation in the past month. The price of oil in the world may be in a tight range in 2012 compared to the 2011 average of around $100/barrel if the world economy, particularly the European Union, continues to be in a fix.
However, new factors have appeared which may fuel petrol prices in 2012 against 2011. These are political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and the EU adopted an oil embargo against Iran, the world’s third largest oil exporter.
In fact, the price of oil in the world market surged in early days of December 2011 when Iran held manoeuvres and was poised to close Hormuz Channel- a strategic gateway for oil sources from the Middle East heading to locations worldwide when necessary.
Compared to December 2011, January 2012 average price of petrol A92 hiked 8.3 per cent, of diesel 0.05S up 3.9 per cent, of kerosene KO up 3.1 per cent, of mazut FO up 7.8 per cent and of crude oil 1.8 per cent more.
Against the same period in 2011, January 2012 average prices rose markedly, such as that of petrol A92 up 15.7 per cent, of diesel 0.05S up18.7 per cent, of kerosene KO up 15.3 per cent, of mazut FO leaped 34.7 per cent and of crude oil WTI was added 11.9 per cent.
The Middle East political unrest will adversely influence the region’s oil sources, directly impacting world oil prices.
How will this impact on local firms’ performances?
Oil prices augmenting in the world market will push up prices in the domestic market. Since petrol is an input material of most economic sectors, rising oil prices could drive up product prices, from there pushing up consumer price index badly affecting people’s purchasing power and causing inflation threats.
Cash-strapped Vietnamese firms would be hurt on the back of input price upsurges since most of them employ fuel-intensive obsolete equipment and technology.
Petrol price hikes will make items using petrol as direct fuel source more expensive such as footwear, plastic, fabric, textile and garment products. Chain effects will also be significant, for instance, firms will suffer from rising transportation costs.
World oil prices are forecast to climb to $150 per barrel. How will the MoIT ensure stable oil supply for the economy in that case?
Vietnam is a big petrol importer. In 2009, we imported 13.2 million cubic metres per tonne of petrol products. The volume shrank to 8.8 million cubic metres per tonne in 2010 and 10.3 million cubic metres per tonne in 2011 since part of the demand was offset by production by Dung Quat oil refinery in central Quang Ngai province.
Around 15.6 million cubic metres per tonne petrol products were consumed in the domestic market in 2011. This year, domestic consumption of petrol products would be around 16.5 million cubic metres per tonne based on 6-6.5 per cent GDP growth forecast.
After looking at domestic supply capacity, the MoIT has allocated minimum import quotas in 2012 equaling 10.1 million cubic metres per tonne on major petrol traders. The ministry has demanded those traders not to import lower than this volume target, while ensuring import progress.
Petrol trading is also governed using other vehicles such as import tax policies and the price stabilisation fund. The MoIT and the Ministry of Finance work closely in petrol price management to ensure interest balance among consumers, firms and the state.
VIR

Petrovietnam bids for ConocoPhillips’ Vietnam assets 

November 1, 2011  about Business

State oil and gas group Petrovietnam has bid for $1.5 billion of ConocoPhillips oil assets in the East Sea, a senior Petrovietnam official said on Monday.
The Hanoi-based group plans to do its utmost to acquire the assets, Nguyen Tien Dung, Petrovietnam’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, told Reuters on Monday.
“The investment is in our country, so we are determined, with our largest possible efforts, to buy,” Dung said.
Barclays Capital is the adviser for the bid, a source with knowledge of the deal said.
ConocoPhillips owns a 23.25 percent stake in a complex of four fields in block 15-1.
The three oilfields and one gas field include the Su Tu Den and Su Tu Vang oilfields and two other fields that have not begun operations, according to Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), one of the owners of the block.
Petrovietnam already owns half of block 15-1. KNOC has 14.2 percent, South Korea’s SK Corp 9 percent and Monaco’s Geopetrol 3.5 percent.
A KNOC official said last week that the South Korean state-run firm had made no decision yet on whether or not to consider buying ConocoPhillips’ stake and will decide based on the price made by the successful bidder.
The US company also owns 36 percent of the Rang Dong oilfield in block 15-2 in the Cuu Long basin and 16.3 percent in the Nam Con Son gas pipeline project.
In July, Petrovietnam’s CEO said the company may buy the ConocoPhillips oil and gas interests in the East Sea to help protect Vietnam’s territorial water, adding that the US energy firm may sell the assets as it was scaling back its presence, possibly as part of a restructuring.
US oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp recently said it had discovered hydrocarbons in August off central Vietnam.
Russians expanding in Vietnam
Dung said that Russian oil and gas firms are also expanding their presence in the Southeast Asia country, with three operating firms — Gazprom , Zarubezhneft and LUKOIL — while TNK-BP is now in the process of taking over assets newly acquired from its shareholder BP Plc .
“This is a good trend,” he added.
British-Russian joint venture TNK-BP will make its official presence in Vietnam within a few weeks, said Dung.
TNK-BP said on Oct. 19 its subsidiary, TNK Vietnam, had received the investment license from Vietnam’s Ministry of Investment and Trade to operate offshore gas Block 06.1, part of the Nam Con Son Integrated Gas to Power Project.
“Our company sees Vietnam as a very prospective market and will continue to review opportunities for deepening our presence in the country,” Maxim Barsky, the deputy chief executive of TNK-BP who will leave his post on Nov. 1 after overseeing its foreign expansion campaign, said in the statement.
Russia’s third-largest oil company said it had acquired from BP a 35 percent stake in the offshore gas and condensate production Block 06.1, which contains the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas condensate fields.
Russia’s No.2 crude producer LUKOIL recently said it had acquired the Hanoi Trough 02 block offshore the northern city of Hai Phong from Quad Energy.
The firm would drill three wells by early next year and 12 locations could have promising oil deposits, Aleksander Nekhaev, Director of Lukoil Overseas Vietnam, said in Hanoi.
Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas company, has established a joint venture with Petrovietnam — Vietgazprom — which now explores five fields offshore Vietnam, the joint venture said on its website (www.vgp.zargaz.ru).
Vietsovpetro, a joint venture between Russian state-run Zarubezhneft and Petrovietnam, has said it will extend cooperation to 20 more years, though its annual oil production will dip to a steady level of 6.0-6.1 million tons from next year, slightly below the expected 2011 output of 6.31 million tons (126,719 bpd).

Thanh Nien/Reuters