Hanoi (VNA) – Facing recent shortage of electricity for economic and daily activities, especially in May, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) has exerted efforts to maximise its provision of fuel for power generation and optimise operation of its power plants to help ease pressure.
The State-owned firm reported that it produced 2.36 billion kWh of electricity in May, up 12% month on month and 85.5% year on year. The five-month output reached 10.12 billion kWh, rising 48% from the same period of 2022.
In May, the Petrovietnam Power Corporation alone turned out 51.5 million kWh per day, 5.9 million kWh more than the average of April. Meanwhile, the Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant boosted operation to its full capacity.
That has helped reduce power shortage in the northern region, it said.
Petrovietnam noted its operation remained safe and stable in the first five months of 2023. Particularly, the manufacturing and supply of such key products as gas, electricity, petrol, and oil posted impressive growth, helping bring down pressure on power supply and guarantee national energy security.
At its regular conference for June, General Director of Petrovietnam Le Manh Hung said prices of crude oil, petrol, and oil products continued to drop in May, affecting the group and its affiliates’ performance.
Amid that context, thanks to efforts to increase production to make up for losses caused by declined energy prices, minimise adverse impacts of the macro-situation, and seize opportunities, Petrovietnam has surpassed production and business targets, helping supply strategic commodities such as gas, electricity, fertiliser, petrol, and oil for the economy, he noted.
During January - May, it exploited 4.41 million tonnes of crude oil, 13.8% higher than the five-month target. That comprised 3.66 million tonnes exploited domestically and 751,600 tonnes overseas, rising 16.3% and 2.6% from the respective targets, statistics show.
About 3.44 billion cu.m. of gas was exploited, 21.8% higher than the target.
Meanwhile, Petrovietnam produced 719,500 tonnes of fertiliser, along with 2.92 million tonnes of petrol and oil, up 11.1% and 13.3% from the respective targets.
The group earned 334 trillion VND (14.2 billion USD) in total revenue in the first five months, 20% higher than the target for the period. Its consolidated pre-tax profit reached 21.7 trillion VND, 63% higher than the target and equivalent to 63% of the yearly plan.
Meanwhile, the firm contributed 54.5 trillion VND to the state budget during the period (excluding the contribution by the Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical LLC), 45% higher than the five-month target.
Petrovietnam said these results were highly positive compared to the downward trend of global oil prices.
Addressing the meeting, Petrovietnam Chairman Hoang Quoc Vuong said the group needs to exert stronger efforts to fulfill the set targets so as to help tackle difficulties facing the economy.
He asked its affiliates to maintain production growth, particularly in oil and gas exploration and exploitation, petrochemistry, along with gas and power industries; accelerate investment disbursement; step up major and key projects like the Block B - O Mon gas pipeline project, the upgrade and expansion of the Dung Quat oil refinery, and the Nhon Trach 3 and 4 power plants.
Vuong also demanded measures for increasing connectivity of service chains to promote the strength of Petrovietnam’s ecosystem while strongly improving the firm’s governance system./.