Oil Crash Hard Hits Vietsovpetro

The plunge in oil and gas prices has hampered Vietsovpetro’s performance.


                                A drilling platform of Vietsovpetro. Photo: vietsov.com.vn

Vietsovpetro, a joint venture established in 1981 between Vietnam’s state-run PetroVietnam and Russia’s Zarubezhneft, saw its revenue from oil sales down 22.4% year-on-year to $1.7 billion this year, the firm said on its website.

PetroVietnam, which holds a 51% stake in the joint venture, earned a profit of $126 million while the Russian party took $121 million, compared to $216.6 million and $208.1 million in 2015, respectively.

Vietsovpetro paid $683 million to Vietnam’s state coffers this year, down $315 million from a year ago.

The average selling oil price of the joint venture stood at $45 a barrel this year, $9 a barrel below the price in 2015.

Due to poorer performance, the firm had to lay off over 500 employees during the year while the average income of its personnel fell by 20% year-on-year.

In 2016, Vietsovpetro tapped 5.04 million tons of crude oil, bringing its total oil production to 223 million tons to date. It also pumped ashore 1.68 billion cubic meters of gas, taking the figure to 30.9 billion so far.

Tuan Minh / BizLIVE