From Uncle Ho's soldiers searching for the fire, to engineers and experts operating oil and gas drilling rigs at a depth of thousands of meters, along with LNG power plants, petrochemical refineries, wastewater plants... Vietnam National Industry - Energy Group (Petrovietnam) has truly proven that knowledge is the Group's most valuable and sustainable resource.
From Uncle Ho's soldiers to those who keep the fire burning in the open sea
At the 4th Petrovietnam Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that "upward prices" are one of the driving forces that help the Group turn challenges into opportunities, creating sustainable added values. This reflects the unique nature of the energy industry - requiring fundamental technology, deep professional qualifications and a team of experienced intellectuals.
From the early days, the Vietnamese oil and gas industry was born from the hands and minds of Uncle Ho's soldiers - who had just come out of the battlefield, packing their backpacks to work on projects and works. It is not by chance that the image of "those who seek fire" becomes a symbol, because they carry the spirit of conquering difficult lands, ready to face offshore storms and challenges from the knowledge gap that is new to the country.
In the early days, oil and gas knowledge was almost a "white area" for Vietnam: lacking well-trained human resources, lacking technology, lacking experience. President Ho Chi Minh laid the foundation for the Vietnamese oil and gas industry through a visit to Baku Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Azerbaijan) in 1959. Uncle Ho's wishes and the aspirations and learning spirit of oil and gas workers at that time lit up the will and determination, helping Petrovietnam turn the impossible into the possible.
On September 3, 1975, the Government issued Decree No. 170/CP to establish the General Department of Petroleum and Gas of Vietnam, later the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group and now the Vietnam National Industrial - Energy Group (Petrovietnam).
Petrovietnam's 50-year journey of construction and development is challenging and thorny but also very proud. Knowledge is the yeu to that creates vitality for Petrovietnam to overcome countless difficulties, not only developing the Vietnamese oil and gas industry as strongly as Uncle Ho's wishes, but also continuing to master many modern technologies of the energy industry, contributing to ensuring national energy security.
The mark of maturity in knowledge
Over the past half century, Petrovietnam has gone from depending on foreign experts to confidently mastering many national key energy projects and works. Each project is not only a technical achievement, but also a testament to Petrovietnam's "upgraded knowledge". The Group has mastered advanced science and technology; built a complete and synchronous oil and gas industrial system from oil and gas exploration and exploitation to developing a chain of high-quality oil and gas industry - electricity - processing and services. At the same time, it has trained a strong and highly qualified oil and gas workforce.
The whole nation will always remember Bach Ho field - a symbol of the Vietnamese oil and gas industry, where the first generation of engineers applied the drilling technology to exploit oil from the foundation - something that the world had never done before on an industrial scale. This is a "knowledge turning point" that helps Vietnam become one of the pioneers in this technology.
Since the first ton of crude oil was exploited in 1986 at Bach Ho field, up to now, the Vietnamese oil and gas industry has exploited more than 460 million tons of domestic oil and about 200 billion m3 of gas. Oil and gas activities cover most of the continental shelf and the 200-navy economic zone of Vietnam. Every year, Petrovietnam supplies nearly 9-11 billion m3 of gas to produce 10% of national electricity output, 70-80% of oil output and 70-80% of gas to households for civil consumption nationwide. Not only ensuring national energy security and making important contributions to the State budget, the oil and gas industry also makes important contributions to affirming Vietnam's sovereignty and sovereignty over the East Sea.
These results are achieved thanks to a series of scientific initiatives of Petrovietnam, awarded the Ho Chi Minh Prize for science and technology, including: Cluster of works "Searching, discovering and exploiting oil bodies in granitoid foundations in front of De Tam, Mekong Delta, Vietnam's continental shelf"; Cluster of works "Researching, developing and perfecting crude oil collection, treatment and transportation technology under special conditions of Vietsovpetro Joint Ventures and connecting mines on the continental shelf of South Vietnam"; Project "Research on detailed design and technology for manufacturing, assembling and lowering self-heading drilling rigs at a depth of 90m in accordance with Vietnam's conditions" ... bringing huge economic efficiency, contributing to increasing the localization rate.
Not stopping at exploration and exploitation technologies, in the field of refining and petrochemical, Dung Quat Oil Refinery has become a project of the century, a symbol of the Vietnamese petrochemical refining industry. From drawings, lines, to operation, Petrovietnam's team of engineers have gradually received and completely mastered, taking charge of all stages of operation, maintenance, and technology optimization, while continuing to implement the Dung Quat Oil Refinery Upgrading and Expansion Project.
The Nhon Trach 1, 2 and upcoming Nhon Trach 3 and 4 gas project chains to be put into commercial operation mark the expansion of knowledge from the upstream oil and gas sector to electricity production, integrated LNG, advanced mixed-use turbine and gas turbine technology. The Ca Mau gas - electricity - fertilizer cluster is a convergence of three high-tech fields, from gas exploitation, electricity production to fertilizer production. All are operated by Vietnamese engineers, optimally operated according to international standards.
In the context of energy transition, Petrovietnam is a pioneer enterprise grasping technology and knowledge in the field of offshore wind power. With experience and capacity from offshore projects, Petrovietnam has created prestige with many international partners in wind power base manufacturing projects and offshore transformer stations. The group is expected by scientists and managers to pioneer in exploring and researching offshore wind power potential in Vietnam, in order to realize the goal of developing offshore wind power, contributing to ensuring national energy security and achieving the target of net zero emissions by 2050.
And there are many other national key projects and works completed by Petrovietnam thanks to its capital in knowledge, science, technology and engineering. Petrovietnam's efforts have been recognized by the Party and the State. Over the past 15 years, the Group has won 10 Ho Chi Minh Awards and the State Award for Science and Technology. These awards all stem from the Group's production and business practices and continue to promote their value.
These achievements not only affirm Petrovietnam's position and capacity, but also prove that Vietnamese intellectuals are fully capable of participating and leading strategic energy projects. Each successful project or project is a message: Vietnamese people can completely master the highest and most complex technology fields, contributing to raising the national level.
Knowledge - the driving force of innovation
Petrovietnam cannot develop without science and technology, innovation and digital transformation. Unlike traditional manufacturing industries, every step forward of Petrovietnam is associated with approaching, mastering and creating new technologies. Enhanced knowledge is the ability to learn and the ability to turn knowledge into practical value of the Group.
In recent times, Petrovietnam has promoted scientific research, applied digital technology, artificial intelligence (AI), analyzed Big data in mine management, safety monitoring, and production optimization. 4.0 technology solutions help reduce exploitation costs, prolong the life of mines, while improving labor safety and environmental protection.
Not only applying, Petrovietnam has also gradually become a technology innovator: from researching and manufacturing drilling equipment, gas collection equipment, carbon recovery and storage, to developing solutions to optimize gas turbine operation, improving petrochemical filtering technology, digital copies... These initiatives help the Group save thousands of billions of VND each year.
A national industrial - energy group that wants sustainable development cannot only rely on natural resources, but must rely on human intelligence. Petrovietnam has identified the "people development" strategy as the focus, through annual intensive training; knowledge transfer; encouraging innovation, initiatives; building a culture of continuous learning. Thanks to that, Petrovietnam currently owns a team of experts and engineers who can take charge of the entire oil and gas chain from searching, exploration, exploitation, processing to distribution and technical services at international standards.
That has helped Petrovietnam overcome the double crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price fluctuations in the 2020-2025 term, maintain stable output, make a great contribution to the State budget, and ensure national energy security.
Entering the 2025-2030 period, with a vision to 2045, Petrovietnam is facing new tasks: energy transition, LNG development, green energy, offshore renewable energy, hydrogen, carbon storage... These are all fields that require pioneering knowledge and technology.
Scientific research is a key and important solution in implementing tasks in the coming years, helping to increase productivity, create products with higher value, and ensure revenue and profit for the Group. Petrovietnam determined the growth drivers to closely follow the Resolution of the 4th General Meeting of Shareholders of the Group's Party Committee, with the goal of new products from science, technology, innovation accounting for 25% of revenue, and the proportion of revenue from international business reaching 30%.
In the coming period, Petrovietnam aims to promote its No. 1 position in Vietnam, becoming a Top 10 regional and large-scale industrial - energy group in the world; operating effectively, sustainably, with high domestic and international competitiveness, taking science - technology and innovation as a breakthrough driving force; forming an "Science - Technology - Innovation" ecosystem; improving innovation capacity; research and production of green/sustainable fuel. "Enhanced Intelligence" will continue to be the foundation for Petrovietnam to realize its aspiration to reach out, be autonomous in technology, ensure national energy security, and make Vietnam a positioned country in the global energy value chain.
