PetroVietnam pumps 22.5 million tonnes of oil

Hanoi (VNA)- The National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) reported a production
output of 22.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent, including 15 million tonnes of
condensate and 7.5 billion cu. m. of gas for 2008, down 5.7 percent from last year.


The group exported 14.66 million tonnes of crude and earned 11.15 billion USD in
export revenues, representing an increase of 46.7 percent over the yearly target.


The group also reported almost 112 trillion VND in tax payments and over 280
trillion VND in total revenues, or over 81.4 percent and 49.6 percent over the
yearly targets, respectively.

Despite having managed to put into operation five new oil and gas wells in 2008,
the national giant met just 93.8 percent of its yearly plans in crude and
condensate gas production, admitted PetroVietnam President Dinh La Thang at a
press briefing on Dec. 30.

He blamed the failure on abnormal weather, which, he said, has delayed the process
of putting new oil and gas wells into operation.

Other causes included volatile domestic and international production and
slowly-progressing construction of sea projects due to high prices of
materials.-Enditem