3:16:49 PM | 1/10/2008
Vietnam, the third largest crude oil producer in Asia, may have no crude oil for export, will have to import the material and more petroleum products from foreign countries after 2015 in order to respectively fuel domestic oil refining industry and surcharge demand, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The country is estimated to need 16.7 million-17.2 million tons of crude oil per year by 2010, including 14.1 million-14.8 million tons annually for energy production and 1.25 million tons for petrochemical industry yearly, the An Ninh Thu Do (Capital Security) newspaper quoted the ministry as saying.
The national crude oil demand will reach 29 million-31.2 million tons a year by 2020, of which 26.3 million-28.6 million will need for energy purposes, it said.
Vietnam’s crude oil production is currently estimated at 17 million tons per year, rather lower than the future demand.
Domestic reserve is modest and decreasing as output of the country’s biggest oilfield Bach Ho falls between 15 per cent and 20 per cent annually, and most of its oilfields are small and medium-sized, according to the ministry.
Vietnam has produced more than 225 million tons of crude oil since it began extracting and exporting crude oil in the late 1980s.
The country has so far found 70 potential oil fields with reserves estimated at 825 million metric tons of oil equivalents, including 425 million metric tons of oil and 400 billion cubic meters of gas. (Capital Security)
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