According to a recent announcement from the group, it will start operating the Nam Rong-Doi Moi mine, which is some 135 kilometres off the southern seaport of Vung Tau, and the D30 mine in Malaysia.

PetroVietnam’s output from 11 domestic and 2 overseas oil and gas wells remained stable at 14 million tonnes of crude oil in the last ten months, up 14.1 percent from the same period last year. Together with crude oil, gas exploitation reached 600 million cu.m in October, bringing the total output of gas over the last ten months to 6.3 billion cu.m, up 5.5 percent.

However, the export value of crude oil fell sharply despite an increase of eight percent in the volume because oil prices have slumped by two thirds over the last ten months to only US$60 per barrel.

According to PetroVietnam, the export revenue from crude oil is projected to reach US$7.2 billion, a 35 percent decrease from 2008.