Hanoi welcomes a proposal on oil exploration and exploitation made by Japan’s JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp (JX NOEX) in Vietnamese waters, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung has said.
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and JX NOEX's President and CEO Hiroshi Hosoi. Photo: VGP
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Dung asked JX NOEX to work with state-run energy firm Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) for further steps, the Deputy PM said at the meeting with JX NOEX’s President and CEO Hiroshi Hosoi in Hanoi earlier this week.
The Deputy PM gave high remarks on JX NOEX’s business performance in Vietnam, especially in applying technologies to enhance oil recovery, helping to stabilize Vietnam’s crude oil output.
Dung also hailed JX NOEX’s corporate social responsibility in Vietnam with an amount of US$2 million dedicated to social welfare.
Hiroshi Hosoi thanked the Vietnamese government and Vietnamese embassy in Japan for supporting JX NOEX to operate effectively since 1992, including the implementation of oil and gas projects.
JX NOEX’s core business is oil exploration and exploitation, providing 50% of petroleum consumed in Japan. JX NOEX is currently one of strategic partners of Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex), the largest fuel distributor in the country and the sole trader of PVN's crude oil.
Vietnam welcomes Japanese firms for oil operations in its continental shelf and waters amid Chinese rising harassment on Vietnamese long-standing oil activities in the South China Sea.
Currently, Tokyo-based Japan Drilling Company’s Hakuryu-5 is operating oil activities near Vietnam’s Bai Tu Chinh (Vanguard Bank) – the waters which China is brazenly deploying a survey ship and armed escorts.
Hakuryu-5 was hired by Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft to look for oil and gas in Vanguard Bank, the westernmost reef in the resource-rich Spratly Islands. The Japanese firm's operations began on May 15.
