The move is part of PetroVietnam’s restructuring plan in the 2017 – 2025 period, which was submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for approval. 

Instead of divesting at PV Gas, PetroVietnam will focus on divesting stake at other subsidiaries.

Companies subject to complete divestment by PVN include PetroVietnam General Services (Petrosetco) with PVN’s now holding 22.24%, PetroVietnam Engineering (PVE) with 29% and PetroVietnam Drilling Mud Corporation (PV-DMC) with 36%, while PVN’s stake at PV Drilling (PVD) will be reduced to 36% from 50.4%.

Under the list of state-owned enterprises marked for divestment during 2017 – 2020, PVN would divest 30% of its stake at PV Gas from the current 95.76% to 65% in the 2018 – 2019 period. 

At the current market price of VND100,800 (US$4.34) a share, the divestment of 30% stake at PV Gas, or equivalent to 587 million shares, would raise at least VND58.7 trillion (US$2.52 billion) for the state budget. 

The company currently taps gas from four fields including Cuu Long, Nam Con Son, PM3 and Thai Binh, with a total annual capacity of more than nine billion cubic meters of gas in recent years, more than 1 million tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and 70,000 tons of condensate.

In the first six months of 2018, PV Gas posted revenue of VND37.45 trillion (US$1.61 billion) or 66% of the year’s target, and pre-tax profit of VND6.6 trillion (US$284.23 million), or 82% of the year’s target. 

With the price of US$50 a barrel, PV Gas’s net sale in the 2017 reached VND64.8 trillion (about US$2.85 billion) and a net profit at VND 9.8 trillion (about US$431.2 million).