AlArabiya net
HANOI/DUBAI (AFP and Danielle Kamar)
State-run PetroVietnam wants closer cooperation with thw world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, in exploration and refinery development, state media reported on Thursday.
PetroVietnam and its Saudi counterpart Aramco have agreed in principle to build a petroleum "strategic alliance," the Vietnam News reported.
Strategic alliances
" The Saudi government as a whole is trying to increase its relations with the Far East "
John Francois Sezec-- Georgetown professorThe agreement came during the first visit to communist Vietnam by Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, whose country is the world's leading oil exporter, the report said.
"We do not have problems in supplying Vietnam with crude oil and hydrocarbons," al-Naimi told the Vietnamese paper.
Saudi Arabia maintains strategic alliances with Japan, China, and South Korea and is their first supplier of hydrocarbons.
"The Saudi government as a whole is trying to increase its relations with the Far East," John Francois Sezec, a professor at Georgetown University, told Al Arabiya.
"In the long term, it means a reduction of the relationship with the West and an increase of the relations with the Far East," he added.
Vietnam and the Middle East
" We hope to get the opportunity to take part in exploring and exploiting oil and gas in Saudi Arabia, especially with the establishment of a joint venture with Saudi Aramco "
PetroVietnam director general According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, trade between the Middle East and Vietnam amounted to $1.2 billion last year with a year by year increase of 17.5 percent.
"We hope to get the opportunity to take part in exploring and exploiting oil and gas in Saudi Arabia, especially with the establishment of a joint venture with Saudi Aramco," PetroVietnam director general Tran Ngoc Canh said.
Canh said he also wanted to cooperate with Saudi Arabian partners in other areas including training and setting up joint ventures to operate refineries in Vietnam.
PetroVietnam is the trading name of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group. Sezec said the group's alliance with Aramco is "helping Vietnam obtain some basic material that's basic to its development."
In February the country opened its first oil refinery, the $2.5-billion Dung Quat facility in central Quang Ngai province. The refinery is expected to produce 6.5 million ton a year or 148,200 barrels per day, about 30 percent of the country's needs.
Vietnam News said PetroVietnam in February signed a memorandum of understanding with Aramco to provide crude for Dung Quat, as well as oil products and liquid petroleum gas.
PetroVietnam is designing another refinery, in the north, and has tentative plans for a third in a bid to attain energy autonomy for the country.
HANOI/DUBAI (AFP and Danielle Kamar)
State-run PetroVietnam wants closer cooperation with thw world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, in exploration and refinery development, state media reported on Thursday.
PetroVietnam and its Saudi counterpart Aramco have agreed in principle to build a petroleum "strategic alliance," the Vietnam News reported.
Strategic alliances
" The Saudi government as a whole is trying to increase its relations with the Far East "
John Francois Sezec-- Georgetown professorThe agreement came during the first visit to communist Vietnam by Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, whose country is the world's leading oil exporter, the report said.
"We do not have problems in supplying Vietnam with crude oil and hydrocarbons," al-Naimi told the Vietnamese paper.
Saudi Arabia maintains strategic alliances with Japan, China, and South Korea and is their first supplier of hydrocarbons.
"The Saudi government as a whole is trying to increase its relations with the Far East," John Francois Sezec, a professor at Georgetown University, told Al Arabiya.
"In the long term, it means a reduction of the relationship with the West and an increase of the relations with the Far East," he added.
Vietnam and the Middle East
" We hope to get the opportunity to take part in exploring and exploiting oil and gas in Saudi Arabia, especially with the establishment of a joint venture with Saudi Aramco "
PetroVietnam director general According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, trade between the Middle East and Vietnam amounted to $1.2 billion last year with a year by year increase of 17.5 percent.
"We hope to get the opportunity to take part in exploring and exploiting oil and gas in Saudi Arabia, especially with the establishment of a joint venture with Saudi Aramco," PetroVietnam director general Tran Ngoc Canh said.
Canh said he also wanted to cooperate with Saudi Arabian partners in other areas including training and setting up joint ventures to operate refineries in Vietnam.
PetroVietnam is the trading name of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group. Sezec said the group's alliance with Aramco is "helping Vietnam obtain some basic material that's basic to its development."
In February the country opened its first oil refinery, the $2.5-billion Dung Quat facility in central Quang Ngai province. The refinery is expected to produce 6.5 million ton a year or 148,200 barrels per day, about 30 percent of the country's needs.
Vietnam News said PetroVietnam in February signed a memorandum of understanding with Aramco to provide crude for Dung Quat, as well as oil products and liquid petroleum gas.
PetroVietnam is designing another refinery, in the north, and has tentative plans for a third in a bid to attain energy autonomy for the country.
