The Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi’s visit will boost co-operation between the two nations, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in Ha Noi yesterday.

Viet Nam is looking to work with Saudi Arabia and hopes there will be further visits by other Saudi Arabian ministers to Viet Nam, the PM said.

Dung also asked the minister to pass on his invitation to the country’s King and Prime Minister to visit Viet Nam with a view to establishing a mutual co-operation committee.

Ali Ibrahim, who is visiting Viet Nam for the first time, affirmed his hope that a strategic co-operation agreement will be made with Viet Nam in not only petroleum but manufacturing, agriculture, trade, construction and services. He also said other Saudi ministers would visit the country.

During the visit, Ali Ibrahim met with the Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and leaders of the Vietnamese National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

Also during his meeting with PetroVietnam officials in Ha Noi yesterday, the two sides discussed investment and trade co-operation. They agreed in principle to build up a petroleum strategic alliance between PetroVietnam and Saudi Aramco, the state-owned national oil company of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has formulated strategic alliances with Japan, China and South Korea.

"We do not have problems in supplying Viet Nam with crude oil and hydrocarbons," he said.

Saudi Arabia is the number one supplier of hydrocarbons to Japan, China and South Korea, and meets 60 per cent of the Asian demand.

Tran Ngoc Canh, PetroVietnam director general said: "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."

Canh said he also wanted to co-operate with Saudi Arabian partners, notably Saudi Aramco, in training, supplying crude oil to refineries and the setting up of joint ventures to operate oil refineries in Viet Nam. He said he was also looking for Saudi Arabia’s investment in finance, insurance and real estate in Viet Nam.

Last February, PetroVietnam inked a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Aramco to provide crude oil for Dung Quat Oil Refinery in the central Quang Ngai Province and to supply oil products and LPG (liquid petroleum gas).

The designed capacity of Dung Quat is about 6.5 million tonnes per year. Viet Nam will construct two more oil refineries – Nghi Son in northern Thanh Hoa Province and Long Son in southern Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province. It is expected that the total capacity of the three plants will reach 26.5 million tonnes per year by 2015
 

Source: Viet Nam News