On the morning of July 9, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law on Oil and Gas (amended).
Presenting the Government's report, Minister of Industry and Trade Le Manh Hung said that the amendment of the Oil and Gas Law will create favorable conditions for basic investigation into oil and gas and oil and gas activities.
At the same time, minimize difficulties, obstacles, ambiguity, overlap, and inadequacies of the legal system.
This amendment of the law is also aimed at strengthening the attraction of foreign and private investment in the field of oil and gas exploration and exploitation.
Preliminary appraisal, the Standing Committee of the Economic and Finance Committee (ECTC Committee) agreed to continue amending to raise the level of the Oil and Gas Law, meeting higher requirements for ensuring energy security, serving high economic growth.
One of the new noteworthy contents is the regulations strengthening decentralization and delegation of power to state management agencies on oil and gas and assigning power to Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrovietnam).
Chairman of the KTTC Committee Phan Van Mai said that the Committee recognizes that the regulations in the draft Law have a major change in the specific management model for upstream oil and gas activities.
These regulations are not simply technical changes to delegate power to Petrovietnam, but have many very important contents such as delegating authority to appraise, approve, adjust the content of oil and gas contracts and issue and adjust investment registration certificates.
The thẩm tra agency requested to clearly explain the basis for proposing decentralization, delegation of power, delegation of power, and change of management model, clarifying the role and scope of responsibility, and the content of management activities of the Ministry of Industry and Trade - the agency performing state management functions in the oil and gas sector.
The KTTC Committee also proposed to clarify the role of the Minister of Industry and Trade who is responsible to the Prime Minister, the Government and the National Assembly for state management in the oil and gas sector according to the provisions of the Law on Organization of the Government, and what changes there are according to the new management model.
In particular, the thẩm tra agency requested to clarify the role of inspection, supervision, and control, ensuring strictness and efficiency.
It is necessary to review and ensure that the contents assigned to Petrovietnam correspond to the position and role of the Group identified in the Party's resolutions and conclusions and the State's strategy.
It is also necessary to clarify the rationality of the regulations on the functions and tasks of these subjects when compared with the regulations on the principles of conducting basic investigations on oil and gas and oil and gas activities newly supplemented in the draft law.
Concluding this content, Member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Hong Dien said that the National Assembly Standing Committee basically agreed with the necessity of issuing the revised Oil and Gas Law.
The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly also noted that the process of completing the draft law dossier needs to review and fully institutionalize the viewpoints, policies, tasks, and solutions in the resolutions and conclusions of the Politburo on ensuring national energy security and strategic orientations for the development of Vietnam's oil and gas industry.
The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly requested to clarify the basis and principles of decentralization and delegation of power of the Prime Minister to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Minister of Industry and Trade to ensure compliance with the principles of decentralization and delegation of power stipulated in the Law on Organization of the Government, associated with the role and clear responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
At the same time, it is necessary to clearly define the principles and contents of delegating power to Petrovietnam to ensure consistency in the relationship and structure with state management agencies.
The draft Law on Oil and Gas (amended) will be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and comments at the Extraordinary Session, expected to open in early August.
