PetroVietnam refutes Iran news report

Deputy General Director of the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) Nguyen Quoc Thap said PetroVietnam had not invested US$1.2 billion in the Darkhovin oil field as quoted on an Iranian TV channel.

The oil field was discovered in 1965 with a reserve of about 5 billion barrels in the southwestern region of Iran.

Thap said the Iranian television channel had cited a speech by the general director of Petroleum Exploration Company, a subsidiary of National Iranian Oil Company, adding that the information was a unilateral action by the Iranian company.

Thap said that a year ago, the Iranian oil and gas exploration company introduced PetroVietnam Exploration Production Company (PVEP), a member company of PetroVietnam, to some projects, including the Darkhovin project.

However, PetroVietnam and its Iranian partner had not yet fully reached any binding commitment to the Darkhovin project.

Thap added that information to the contrary in some local newspapers was not true and was not the original content published by the Iranian TV channel.

Specifically, the channel gave "supposed" information while Vietnamese media run the information as it was confirmed.

PetroVietnam is currently investing in oil and gas exploration projects abroad and has obtained some encouraging results such as in the Nhenhetxky project in Russia, PM304 and SK305 project in Malaysia.

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