PetroVietnam pumps 22.5 million tonnes of oil

– The National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) reported a production output of 22.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent, including 15 million tonnes of condensate and 7.5 billion cu. m. of gas for 2008, down 5.7 percent from last year.

The group exported 14.66 million tonnes of crude and earned 11.15 billion USD in export revenues, representing an increase of 46.7 percent over the yearly target.

The group also reported almost 112 trillion VND in tax payments and over 280 trillion VND in total revenues, or over 81.4 percent and 49.6 percent over the yearly targets, respectively.

Despite having managed to put into operation five new oil and gas wells in 2008, the national giant met just 93.8 percent of its yearly plans in crude and condensate gas production, admitted PetroVietnam President Dinh La Thang at a press briefing on Dec. 30.

He blamed the failure on abnormal weather, which, he said, has delayed the process of putting new oil and gas wells into operation.

Other causes included volatile domestic and international production and slowly-progressing construction of sea projects due to high prices of materials.—

Government launches administrative reform website

Hanoi (VNA) – An official website on administrative procedures reform was launched at www.thutuchanhchinh.vn on December 30.

A list of 6,500 administrative procedures related to business activities and people’s life has been published on the website to collect suggestions from the public and businesses for improvement.

Addressing the website launching ceremony, permanent Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung emphasised the government’s efforts in implementing administrative reform from now to 2010.

He said the simple and transparent administrative procedures will create the most favourable conditions for investors, businesses and people while implementing them.-

Thai FM plans to visit Cambodia for border issues

Hanoi (VNA) – The Cambodian foreign minister said on December 30 that newly appointed Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya plans to visit Cambodia to continue discussion on the border issues between the two countries.

“Yesterday, the Thai foreign minister called me to extend the best wishes for a happy New Year and said that he plans to visit Cambodia,” Hor Namhong, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

“He is willing to continue the discussion to seek resolution in peaceful and friendly ways for the border issues,” he said. We all put aside the possibility of military conflict and will keep restraints over the border issues, he said.-

Northern provinces expect cold weather, frosts

– Mountainous provinces in the north can expect very cold weather and frost until Thursday, according to the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecast.

Southern and central highland provinces would have out-of-season rains, while centre provinces could expect heavy rains, experts from the central said.

Because of cold spells and strong north-eastern monsoons, the sea off central provinces will be seriously rough.-

Operation returns smile to kids in Mekong Delta

– Doctors are providing free-charge surgeries for 138 children born with harelips and cleft palates in the Mekong Delta’s localities of Vinh Long, Tra Vinh and Can Tho from Dec. 29 to Jan 4.

The surgeries, funded by the US-based Operation Smile and Viettel Telecom are conducted in Vinh Long Hospital with technical support from the National Hospital of Odonto and Stomatology in HCM City .

The three localities are the last ones in the Mekong Delta that benefit from the “For Children’s Smile” programme, which provides surgeries for children with harelips and cleft palates.-

No price cuts in store, despite sagging sales

Hanoi (VNA) – Producers are unwilling to cut sky-high prices to boost sales out of fear that their profits will sink while they wait for demand to increase.

Despite sharp drops in raw materials costs over the past months, prices of most products and services in the domestic market remain disproportionately high.

Statistics show that since August 2008, the prices of petrol and gas – important input materials for production – have fallen over 40 percent from the highest peak. Materials for food have also seen massive cuts of 30-50 percent since the beginning of the year.

The price of palm oil from Malaysia , the main material for making vegetable oil, has stayed at 700 USD per tonne this month, according to the Vietnam Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Company. This has dropped from 1,200 USD per tonne since the beginning of the year.

The price of milk has been plummeting across the global market. Since the first signs of price drops appeared in October, milk prices have slid by 30-50 percent.

These price drops have not been passed on to the domestic market. Most product prices have not been lowered – especially for processed food, confectionery and dairy products.

Hai Ha-Kotobuki confectionery producer has even raised some of its prices by 10-20 percent.

Electronic products, however, have dropped 5-10 percent.

Producers admit that raw materials are now cheaper, but said that they would not consider lowering sale prices at a time when demand is not high.

Slashing sale prices while demand is low will reduce their profit, they claim.

Vu Dinh Anh, deputy head of the Market and Price Research Institute under the Ministry of Finance, said that producers were unable to sell commodities, but were determined not to slash sale prices to offset this.

He said: “Producers have been keeping prices high to swell their profits. Most businesses do not want to sacrifice earnings to boost sales, but the economic climate has changed. Massive growth has been replaced by economic recession.”

“As sales slump, businesses dare not cut sales prices, fearing that reduced sales volumes would be unprofitable. Experienced sellers know not to seek profit from upping prices, but from upping the volume of products sold.”

The biggest problem is the domestic producers’ thinking, he said, adding that most producers are not used to lowering prices.

“The behaviour of petrol distributors is an example. They raised the petrol prices as soon as the world’s price increased, but they have been very slow to lower domestic prices, since the world’s price decreased.”

Anh said that businesses should realise that their sale prices are too high in comparison to people’s incomes.

“They should think of ways to clear stocks, and the simplest way to stimulate demand is to slash sale prices. They should not demand profit all the time. Sometimes, they have to accept loss, and use the profit from some periods to cover losses in other periods. They have to learn to stop losses,” he said.-

PetroVietnam, Can Tho target comprehensive cooperation

Can Tho (VNA) – The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) is planning to build fertiliser warehouses and a network of distribution in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho .

The scheme is part of a comprehensive cooperation deal signed between the group and Can Tho city on Dec. 28.

PetroVietnam will consider the construction of office buildings, finance and insurance centres and residential areas in Can Tho – the second largest city in the Mekong Delta region.

In addition, the group will help Can Tho seek other investors both at home and abroad to engage in the city’s development projects.

PetroVietnam previously inaugurated a liquefied gas depot – the largest of its kind in the region – and a nitrogenous fertiliser storage facility at the city’s Tra Noc 2 industrial zone.-

food-hit areas get Japanese-funded houses

Dong Thap (VNA) – Southern Dong Thap province has built and put into use 20 flood-proof houses, worth 2,000 USD each, with funding from Japanese JTI Company.

The concrete houses were given to underprivileged families in flood-prone areas in Tan Hong and Hong Ngu districts.

The houses in Dong Thap are the last ones built under the JTI Company’s aid project on construction of 60 houses worth a total of 120,000 USD for poor households in Thua Thien-Hue, An Giang and Dong Thap provinces.-

Nation grapples with rising river pollution

Ha Noi Water Drainage Co workers dredge the Set River in Ha Noi’s Hoang Mai District. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh Tran

HCM CITY — Viet Nam is struggling to find measures to prevent pollution in the country’s rivers from worsening, environmental officials have admitted.

Dr Nguyen The Dong, deputy director of the General Department of Environmental Protection, was speaking at an international conference on the issue organised by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in HCM City last week.

He said Viet Nam needed to listen to and learn from the experience of all countries in the world in dealing with river pollution and adopt suitable solutions.

For example, he cited China and Japan as the two countries that had been successful in improving the basin of several rivers.

Dong added the environment management of river basins was very complex and could not be put into effect immediately. The river basin management requires patience and a lot of time.

The infrastructure needed to address the problem remained weak, as was the planning process, the conference heard.

The awareness among businesses and local inhabitants about protecting the water environment was still low, experts said.

They stressed that the serious polluting of rivers in the country began a long time ago, and Viet Nam needed to take drastic measures urgently to prevent and treat pollution.

However, identifying the measures in accordance with the economic and social conditions of Viet Nam was a very time consuming process, they added.

The General Department of Environment Protection said while waiting to come up with the best solution to save the rivers, local authorities needed to tighten control over heavy water pollution.

Relevant agencies will have to strengthen inspection of companies located in river basins and strictly impose stringent fines on violations.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment would consider and limit the granting of investment licences for five types of industry that risk causing the most serious pollution to rivers – cassava processing, chemical production, dyeing, tanning and pulp production, the department said.

Local authorities needed to work with the Ministry of Construction and other relevant agencies to accelerate the building of the rain water drainage systems. They should be separated from wastewater drainage systems in urban and residential areas, it said.

Viet Nam has established three committees on the environmental protection of the Cau River Basin, Day River Basin and Dong Nai River Basin to co-ordinate with local authorities and speed up treatment of pollution in these areas.

Also on Tuesday, the Department of Water Resources Management under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment held a meeting on the impact of climate change on water resources in Viet Nam.

Nguyen Khac Hieu, deputy director of the hydrometeorology and climate change department under the environment ministry, said that increasing temperatures and evaporation would decrease water volume and quality in river basins.

According to the climate change scenarios sketched by experts, after 2030, the rainfall will have powerful impacts on the water flow of rivers. If the quantity of rainfall were to fall by 10 per cent, river flow volumes would also decrease by 10-30 per cent.

The change is predicted to occur mainly in the northwest and south-central areas. —

Golf developer invests 1 bln USD in Laos

– The Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment signed an agreement with Vietnam-based company Long Thanh on Dec 26, permitting it to invest one billion USD in a recreation development project in Laos .

The project, which includes a golf course, a five-star hotel and luxury villas, will cover 557 hectares in the Lao capital of Vientiane, with a business period of 50 years and another 25 years at the investor’s discretion.

The ministry handed the project’s licence to the company’s representative at the signing ceremony, which was attended by several officials from the two countries.

Long Thanh Golf Investment and Trading Joint Stock Co., operates in the golf and hotel industries with a golf club and several golf courses in southern Vietnam.-