Petrovietnam News

This week Esgian’s Week 50 Rig Analytics Market Roundup notes developments in the semisub sector including that Shell has decided to exercise its option on Stena Don in the North Sea but not on Deepsea Bollsta in Namibia. Meanwhile, a new contract for the Transocean Barents will see it operate in the Black Sea, and jackup Shelf Drilling Perseverance will move to Vietnam.ContractsShelf Drilling has secured a contract award for the 400ft Shelf Drilling Perseverance jackup rig with PetroVietnam Domestic Exploration Production Operating Company Limited (PVEP POC).

A Chinese research ship and five escort vessels were in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday, close to gas blocks operated by Russian firms in the South China Sea, a day after Vietnam urged the ships to leave.The Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 began operating in Vietnam's EEZ on May 7, representing the most significant incursion since 2019, according to Ray Powell, who leads Stanford University's Project Myoushu on the South China Sea.He said China's conduct and Vietnam's reaction were a "worrying escalation."China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, including areas that are within Vietnam's EEZ. The 2019 standoff lasted for more than three months and largely targeted a block then operated by Russian state oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM.

A Chinese research vessel flanked by coast guard and nearly a dozen boats on Wednesday entered a gas block operated by Russian and Vietnamese state firms, two monitoring groups said, another potential flashpoint in the South China Sea.It follows a pattern of assertive moves of late by Beijing in its neighbors' exclusive economic zones (EEZ), as it presses its claim to sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, testing the United States and its allies at a time of heightened regional tension.Strong relations between Russia and China are a major factor supporting global stability…

Oil and gas company Valeura Energy has entered into a definitive agreement with PT Samudra Alam Transport to charter the MT Vula crude oil tanker to store oil produced from the Wassana oil field, offshore in the Gulf of Thailand.In Q2 2022, Valeura acquired KrisEnergy International (Thailand) Holdings Ltd. which owns and operates two licenses in the offshore Gulf of Thailand. The acquisition included the suspended Wassana oil field and the fully appraised Rossukon oil field. Additionally, through a separate agreement, the company agreed to acquire the Mobile Production Unit Ingenium (“MOPU”) which is on location at the Wassana oil field.Valeura said this week that the oil tanker to be chartered for Wassana would be renamed MT Jaka Tarub.The MT Jaka Tarub is a Panamax-sized oil tanker…

Malaysia Vietnam Offshore Terminal's FSO Golden Star has received the first condensate at the Sao Vang and Dai Nguyet (SVDN) Project offshore Vietnam.MVOT is a 51% MISC Berhad (MISC) owned joint venture with PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC). The condensate delivery milestone was achieved on November 16, 2020, MISC said Friday. FSO Golden Star with a storage capacity of about 700,000 barrels of condensate was converted and sailed away from Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering’s West Yard on September 10…

Engineering X – an international collaboration founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and Lloyd’s Register Foundation – has awarded nearly £1 million ($1.2 million) in grants to six projects in the U.K. and overseas aimed at tackling the complex social, environmental and engineering challenges of decommissioning ships and offshore structures.From training to improve worker safety in ship recycling facilities in Bangladesh, to assessing the risks of structural failure of decommissioned offshore structures…

ABS, a classification services provider to the marine and offshore industries, will provide classification for a series of "highly innovative Self-Elevating Drilling Units (SEDU)" for Silver Eagle Global.Silver Eagle, of Manama, Bahrain, says the self-propelled design is capable of working at greater water depths and in harsh environments. According to Silver Eagle Global, the Silver Eagle SEDU 430WC-4 will have the industry’s largest deck area and deck load capacity, large accommodation…

A Chinese oil survey vessel that has been embroiled in a tense standoff with Vietnamese vessels in the South China Sea left Vietnamese-controlled waters on Thursday after more than three months, marine data showed.The Chinese vessel, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, was speeding away from Vietnam's exclusive economic zone towards China on Thursday under the escort of at least two Chinese ships, according to data from Marine Traffic, a website that tracks vessels.China claims almost all the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea but neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.Tension between Hanoi and Beijing…

The floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) service provider in Malaysia, Yinson Holdings Bhd has been awarded a contract extension for its Lam Son FPSO for operations on the Lam Son field, located offshore Vietnam."On 30 September 2019, PTSC AP has entered into a fourth addendum to the BBC Interim Contract with PTSC to further extend the tenure of the BBC Interim Contract for a period of one  month commencing from 1 October 2019 to 31 October 2019," said a stock exchange anouncement from Yinson.The value of the fourth addendum is estimated to be USD1.54, it said. The fourth addendum will not have any effect on the share capital and shareholding structure of the company.

Vietnam's state oil firm PetroVietnam said on Friday that tension in the South China Sea will continue to weigh on its offshore operations this year.The company, formally known as Vietnam Oil and Gas Group targets to produce 12.37 million metric tonnes of crude oil this year, down 11.45 percent from last year's output, it said in a statement.Vietnam and China have been embroiled in maritime disputes in parts of the busy waterway, where China claims 90 percent of the potentially energy-rich maritime territory, which Vietnam calls the East Sea."The complicated developments in the East Sea have h

Malaysian shipping group MISC Berhad (MISC) has received a time charter contract from Idemitsu Kosan (IKC) for the provision of a floating, storage and offloading (FSO) vessel in Vietnam.The energy-related maritime solutions and services provider said in a press release that the contract that it received through its 51%-owned joint-venture with PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) i.e. Malaysia Vietnam Offshore Terminal (L) Limited (MVOT), represents the expansion of MISC’s footprint as a leading player in providing offshore solutions in the ASEAN region.MISC has close to 10 years of experience in Vietnam’s offshore development in a joint venture partnership with PTSC and currently operates two floating assets…

Asia's oil and gas producers are starting to revive projects aimed at deflating years of ballooning energy imports after new investment dried up following the 2014 industry crisis. Spending has so far been driven mainly by state oil companies such as India's ONGC, Thailand's PTTEP and PetroVietnam, which need to produce more oil and gas to ensure their countries' energy security, executives said this week during an industry event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Asia is by far the biggest, fastest-growing consumer of oil, yet its output is falling faster than in any other region.

Vietnam's state oil firm PetroVietnam has ordered Spanish energy firm Repsol to suspend its "Red Emperor" project off the country's southeastern coast following pressure from China, the BBC reported on Friday. It would be the second time in less than a year that Vietnam has had to cancel a major oil development in the South China Sea under pressure from China. The move comes as Repsol was making final preparations for commercial drilling. A rig, the Ensco 8504, was scheduled to depart from Singapore for the drill site on Thursday, the report said, citing an unnamed energy industry source. The cancellation could cost Repsol and its partners $200 million in sunk investment, according to the BBC. Repsol and PetroVietnam executives could not immediately be reached for comment.

Vietnam has arrested a former chairman of state-owned Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC) for alleged abuse of power, police said on Friday, as the Southeast Asian nation cracks down on graft. A spate of high-profile arrests has shed light on graft, mismanagement and nepotism in state firms at a time of accelerating privatization, while spotlighting the ascendancy of a more conservative faction in the ruling Communist Party. Nguyen Ngoc Su of SBIC, formerly known as debt-laden and troubled Vinashin…

Singapore-based Enterprize Energy and partner Renewable Energy Global Solutions (REGS), together with PetroVietnam consortium comprising Petroleum Equipment Assembly & Metal Structure (PVC-MS) and VietSovPetro (VSP), MHI-Vestas Offshore Wind (MVOW), and DNV GL signed a series of exclusive Agreements forming an alliance for multi-phased, utility-scale wind developments, offshore Southern Vietnam, including feasibility, environmental, development, financing planning through implementation. Ian Hatton, Enterprize Energy’s Chairman and Founder Director commented, “Vietnam’s impressive economic growth is driving a need for new energy resources. Government has a very clear determination to meet rising energy demand with substantive growth in the supply of low-carbon, renewable energy”.

Spain's Repsol said it had suspended oil drilling in a block off Vietnam, where the prospecting in South China Sea waters claimed by China had infuriated Beijing and brought Chinese pressure on Vietnam to stop. Tension has been growing between Vietnam and China over energy development in the waterway, where extensive Chinese claims are challenged by five Southeast Asian countries and disputed by the United States. Repsol's chief financial officer, Miguel Martinez, said work had been suspended off Vietnam, according to the transcript of a conference call with analysts last week. "We are working with the PetroVietnam and with the Vietnamese authorities and the only comment is that right now, operations have been suspended," he said.

Indonesia renamed the northern reaches of its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea as the North Natuna Sea on Friday, the latest act of resistance by Southeast Asian nations to China's territorial ambitions in the maritime region. Seen by analysts as an assertion of Indonesian sovereignty, part of the renamed sea is claimed by China under its contentious maritime boundary, known as the 'nine-dash line', that encompasses most of the resource-rich sea. Several Southeast Asian states dispute China's territorial claims and are competing with China to exploit the South China Sea's abundant hydrocarbon and fishing resources. China has raised the ante by deploying military assets on artificial islands constructed on shoals and reefs in disputed parts of the sea.

Vietnam has extended an Indian oil concession in the South China Sea and begun drilling in another area it disputes with China in moves that could heighten tensions over who owns what in the vital maritime region. The moves come at a delicate time in Beijing's relations with Vietnam, which claims parts of the sea, and India, which recently sent warships to monitor the Malacca Straits, through which most of China's energy supplies and trade passes. Vietnam granted Indian oil firm ONGC Videsh a two-year extension to explore oil block 128 in a letter that arrived earlier this week, the state-run company's managing director Narendra K. Verma told Reuters.

The Philippines, eager to resume development of vital oil and gas reserves off its coast, will likely need to reach an accord with a Chinese government infuriated by last week's ruling that granted Manila a big victory in the South China Sea. The Philippines relies overwhelmingly on imports to fuel its fast-growing economy. That reliance will grow further in a few years when the main source of domestic natural gas runs out, so the clock is ticking for it to develop offshore fields that China shows no sign of loosening its grip on. Beijing has refused to recognise the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration that granted the Philippines sovereign rights to access offshore oil and gas fields, including the Reed Bank, a shallow tablemount some 85 nautical miles off its coast.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), signed today in Moscow a number of documents to strengthen cooperation between the companies. The signing ceremony was attended by Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). the Addendum to extend the Cooperation Agreement on personnel training. According to the Memorandum of Understanding on the development of new oil and gas projects, the parties plan to examine further opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of hydrocarbon prospecting, exploration and development.

The state-run China Daily says that India's plans to conduct oil exploration off Vietnam coast in the South China Sea is "illegal and is an "unwise move" that may "sabotage" positive momentum in ties. "India's intention to once again explore for oil in the disputed waters of the South China Sea is an unwise move, as it will further complicate the maritime disputes and do a disservice to maintaining the positive momentum that has been achieved in China-India ties," the China Daily said in an editorial. Titled 'India should rethink its oil exploration plans', the editorial said according to reports India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation plans to restart exploration activities in the waters off Vietnam's coastline which are "also claimed by China".

Keppel FELS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine (Keppel O&M) is on track to deliver PV Drilling VI, a KFELS B Class jackup rig, to PV Drilling Overseas (PVDO), a subsidiary of PetroVietnam Drilling & Well Services Corp (PV Drilling) on time, on budget and with a perfect safety record. It is the 100th jackup rig Keppel FELS has built since 1970, of which more than half are based on the KFELS B Class design. Developed by Keppel's technology arm, Offshore Technology Development, this design has a market share of about a quarter of all jackup rigs delivered since 2000.

Rig upgrade and repair specialist Semco Maritime opens new Houston office on January 23, offering services for rig customers in Canada, Gulf of Mexico and Brazil. Project management and offshore engineering company Semco Maritime is now opening a new, larger office in Houston, where the Danish company has been present for several years with a sales office. According to the company’s vice president Tom Dalton, “Oil prices may fluctuate, but rig customers’ need of service and upgrades for their drilling fleet remains.