PetroVietnam 2022 crude oil output flat at 10.84 mln tonnes

PetroVietnam reported crude oil output of 10.84 million tonnes in 2022, flat from a year earlier and 24% above its official target, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

The state-owned oil firm’s output includes 8.98 million tonnes from domestic fields and 1.86 million tonnes from foreign fields, the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that its gas output rose 8.3% to 8.08 billion cubic metres.

PetroVietnam’s revenue rose 48% last year to 931.2 trillion dong ($39.72 billion), a record high, the ministry said, adding that pre-tax profit rose 59% to 82.2 trillion dong.

In 2023, PetroVietnam will seek to expand its exploration and production activities and speed up its Block B Gas Project and the project to upgrade and expand its Binh Son refinery, its chairman Hoang Quoc Vuong said in a statement.

Vuong, however, said the company will face challenges this year, including a low increase in proven oil reserves, a strong global energy transition trend boosted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and hurdles in implementing its investment projects.

Projects to develop Block B Gas and Blue Whale Gas complexes and expand Binh Son refinery “are facing difficulties and delays and need support measures from the authorities,” he said, without elaborating.