Vietnam's oil output up

Wed, 26 Feb 1997 | Source: AFP

HANOI (AFP): Vietnamese crude oil production totaled 1.2 million tons in the first two months of this year, a record for the period, a newspaper reported here yesterday.

Ngo Thuong San, general director of monopoly state-owned oil company Petrovietnam, said 1997 output was expected to reach 9.6 million tons, up one million tons over 1996 levels, the Vietnam News reported.

Nearly all of Vietnam's oil is exported for refining as the country lacks its own facilities.

Vietnam operates three oil fields off its southern coast known as Bach Ho (White Tiger), Rong (Dragon) and Dai Hung (Big Bear). White Tiger and Dragon are operated by VietSovPetro, a Vietnamese-Russian joint venture.

Dai Hung has been operated by Australia's BHP Petroleum which has written off more than US$100 million in investment in the field, which has been losing money since it began operations two years ago.

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