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PM calls for action to secure sustainable development

13 September 2019

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Vietnam

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam will take strong action to promote sustainable development, investing more in the workforce and advanced technologies, moving towards digital Government and digital society, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has said.

The PM was speaking at a conference on sustainable development in Hà Nội that he chaired alongside his deputy Vũ Đức Đam on Thursday.

The conference, held by the National Council for Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), and the World Bank, was themed ‘For a Decade of More Sustainable Development’, gathering about 1,000 leaders of the Government, representatives of international organisations, experts, researchers and businesses.

Phúc asked ministries, sectors and localities nationwide to encourage businesses and people to be creative and innovative to help Việt Nam boost its competitiveness in global markets.

“We need to build policies to inspire businesses applying the circular economy model effectively, encouraging green production activities, helping the country reach the targets of the sustainable development plan in 2020-30,” Phúc said.

He also emphasised that the globalisation of technology will change thinking, but that Việt Nam must preserve its cultural values, making changes but still promoting sustainable development.

“I require ministries and sectors, especially ministers, to join with the Government to study and issue a decree on sustainable development soon, which must be renewable and practical, having concrete objectives and policies, and ensuring efficiency in the future,” the Prime Minister added.

At the event, Deputy PM Đam said the conference aimed to set cross-cutting objectives based on the development of the circular economy with scientific and technological innovations and the building of human resources towards sustainable development goals.

“It will be difficult to achieve the goals without the efforts and determination of the Government, all levels, sectors, the business community and all of society,” Đam said.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Văn Trung said the Prime Minister issued a National Action Plan in 2017, responding to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including 17 common goals and 169 specific goals.

“One of the important tasks set out in the Action Plan is that all Việt Nam’s sustainable development goals will be integrated into the content of the Socio-Economic Development Strategy for 2021-30,” Dũng said.

He said in recent years, the perspective of sustainable development has been integrated throughout the Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2011-20, which has been concretised in many strategies, plans and policies.

Statistics show Việt Nam’s poverty rate decreased from 9.9 per cent in 2015 to less than 7 per cent in 2017, while health insurance coverage reached 86.4 per cent in 2017. More than 99 per cent of Vietnamese households had access to electricity in 2016. The country’s GDP growth in 2015, 2016 and 2017 reached 6.7 per cent, 6.2 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

“The Ministry of Planning and Investment is currently conducting research, analysis, evaluation and selection of appropriate sustainable development goals to integrate into the Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2021-30,” Dũng added.

At the conference, experts, domestic and foreign enterprises discussed research and experience in sustainable development, including production methods of the circular economy and technological breakthroughs. These are not only actions to protect the environment and to achieve sustainable development, but also to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.

Daniel Dulitzky, WB Director for Human Resource Development in the East Asia-Pacific Region, said although Việt Nam is showing good performance in human capital index, it is still facing challenges in ensuring high-quality human resources, which are needed to narrow the gap among ethnic minority groups and strengthen the development of the workforce.

Dulitzky also recommended reforming national target programmes, renovating the university education system and drawing private investment in education-training.

Matt Wilson, Corporate Affairs Director of Heineken Vietnam, said sustainability is a core part of the company’s long-term vision.

He said almost all of Heineken Vietnam’s bottles are returned for reuse before eventually being recycled, while materials like cardboard, aluminum, plastic and paper are reused or recycled. The firm’s initiatives including powering four of its six breweries with renewable thermal energy from carbon neutral, biomass-generated steam and reducing 2,500 tonnes of CO2 emissions from its logistic operations alone in 2018.

“We hope this will encourage more businesses in Việt Nam to think of their own sustainable development journey and how they can apply circular economy strategies to reduce waste and preserve scarce natural resources,” Wilson said.

At the conference, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vũ Tiến Lộc announced five initiatives of sustainable development that will be expanded in the future, including not-for-profit Packaging Recycling Organization Vietnam (PRO Vietnam) to support the growth of a strong, resilient domestic packaging collection and recycling ecosystem.

To promote the circular economy, Lộc proposed the National Assembly promulgate the Law on Promoting Circular Economy. Along with that, the National Assembly and the Government should soon have policies to encourage the development of circular economy models in the community and businesses, in which enterprises play a central role. — VNS

Oil & Gas

Vietnam digs in on South China Sea oil and gas projects amid Chinese pressure

13 September 2019

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Vietnam

BANGKOK – Vietnam, locked in one of its most protracted test of wills with China of late, is trying to allay fears that yet another foreign joint venture energy project in the South China Sea may be canned due to pressure from Beijing.

The question over American firm ExxonMobil’s involvement in the Ca Voi Xanh, or Blue Whale, gas field project off central Vietnam arose as a Chinese survey ship remained in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone this week, the third such encroachment over the past two months.

On Friday afternoon (Sept 13), Chinese government-owned Haiyang Dizhi 8 was anchored about 360km from the southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau, according to information from vessel tracking website Marine Traffic.

Under escort by the Chinese coast guard, it has surveyed the area, triggering a demand from Hanoi for Beijing to immediately remove its vessels.

Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Thi Thu Hang, in a media briefing on Thursday, condemned China’s actions as illegal, saying that the waters in question “lies entirely within the sovereignty and jurisdiction of Vietnam”. Replying to a query, she added that the Blue Whale project was continuing as planned.

The project consists of an offshore platform, a pipeline, a gas treatment plant on the mainland as well as pipelines linking third-party plants to generate power. Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries is among the firms involved in a gas-fired power plant in the central Quang Ngai province linked to the project.

When fully up and running, the Blue Whale project is expected to provide US$20 billion (S$30.3 billion) in revenue for Hanoi and supply enough power to cover 10 per cent of Vietnam’s current demand.

China claims almost the entire oil-rich South China Sea through a vaguely defined “nine-dash line”, which overlaps the claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, as well as Taiwan.

To bolster its position, it has reclaimed and militarised disputed islands in South China Sea, while engaging in an over decade-long discussion with Asean to draw up a code of conduct to manage territorial disputes.

Beijing has repeatedly tried to block companies from non-littoral states from taking part in oil exploration, and proposed that the final Code of Conduct include a clause which states that marine economic activity “shall not be conducted in cooperation with companies from countries outside the region”.

In 2017, Hanoi scrapped an oil drilling project licensed to state-owned PetroVietnam, Spain’s Repsol and United Arab Emirates’ Mubadala Development, under Chinese pressure. Less than a year later in 2018, Vietnam cancelled another project licensed to Repsol about 400km from its southern coast over the same concerns.

This year, oil drilling activities that Hanoi licensed to Russia’s state-owned Rosneft 370km south-east of Vietnam again triggered opposition from Beijing, which sent Haiyang Dizhi 8 with escorts to Vanguard Bank on the western edge of Spratly Islands. Vietnam opted to extend the oil rig’s operation.

Dwarfed by China’s naval prowess, Vietnam has opted to flex its diplomatic muscles instead. At the July meeting between Asean’s and China’s foreign ministers in Bangkok, Vietnam’s Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh called out China’s actions for eroding trust and causing instability.

During the visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed to Hanoi in August, both countries issued a joint statement that, among other things, “expressed serious concerns over recent developments in the South China Sea”.

Vietnam, along with the other Asean states, took part in the inaugural Asean-US Maritime Exercise this month held mostly in waters off Vietnam’s southernmost Ca Mau province. The drills helped Asean’s navies search and seize suspicious boats.

Others

Vietnam Fights China Moves to Hinder Offshore Energy Exploration

13 September 2019

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Vietnam

Vietnam is pushing back harder against China’s efforts to isolate it diplomatically on a territorial dispute in an energy-rich part of the South China Sea.

The foreign ministry in Hanoi on Thursday called on China to immediately order a state-owned survey vessel along with several Coast Guard escorts to leave Vietnamese-claimed waters in its exclusive economic zone, which stretches 200 nautical miles from its coast. It also said a multi-billion dollar oil and gas project being carried out by state-owned Vietnam Oil & Gas Group and Exxon Mobil Corp. in block 118 of the waters would continue unimpeded.

“Any activities that hamper Vietnam’s oil and gas exploration in Vietnamese water are violations of international laws,” Le Thi Thu Hang, a spokeswoman for Vietnam’s foreign ministry, told reporters during a briefing on Thursday.

The Chinese-owned Haiyang Dizhi 8 has intermittently zigzagged across a Vietnam-demarcated block of water to study the seabed in an active drilling block operated by Russia’s state-owned Rosneft Oil PJSC since early July. China claims most of the South China Sea with a map of a nine-dash line stretching far from the mainland, and has sought to negotiate one-on-one deals with countries in the region on sharing energy and fish resources.

The latest Vietnamese statements came after China scored diplomatic wins with other South China Sea claimants. On Monday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed with his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah on the establishment of a bilateral consultation mechanism to “properly handle” disputes in the South China Sea.

China also appears to be making progress on a joint exploration deal with the Philippines, with President Rodrigo Duterte saying earlier this week he would ignore an international court ruling affirming his country’s territorial claims in order to advance energy cooperation with Beijing. Duterte said the deal would entail a 60-40 revenue-sharing scheme favoring the Philippines.

“We’re seeing a full court press with China to push its nine-dash line, press foreign oil companies and pressure countries into joint development deals,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia who has written about Southeast Asia security issues for more than two decades..

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Energy Cooperation ,
Oil & Gas

Duterte says Xi Jinping offered him an oil and gas deal to ignore South China Sea ruling

13 September 2019

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Philippines

(CNN)Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said he has been offered a controlling stake in a joint energy deal by Chinese President Xi Jinping in exchange for ignoring an international arbitration in Manila’s favor on the South China Sea.

In 2016, a tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a maritime dispute, concluding China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

Speaking to reporters in the Philippines on Tuesday, Duterte said that Xi had promised him a majority stake in a joint oil and gas exploration venture that could fall within Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), if the Philippines ignores the decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

“Set aside the arbitral ruling,” Duterte said, quoting Xi. “Set aside your claim. Then allow everybody connected with the Chinese companies. They want to explore and if there is something, they said, we would be gracious enough to give you 60%, they will only get 40%. That is the promise of Xi Jinping,” Duterte reportedly said.

An EEZ gives a country exclusive maritime rights to resources such as fish and oil and gas within 200 nautical miles of that land mass. Manila’s EEZ, mandated by the United Nation’s Convention on the Law of the Sea, overlaps with waters claimed by China and Vietnam.

Duterte’s comments come after he met with Xi in Beijing last week. According to China’s state-run news agency Xinhua, Xi said the two nations could take a “bigger step” in joint offshore oil and gas exploration.

“As long as the two sides handle the South China Sea issue properly, the atmosphere of bilateral ties will be sound, the foundation of the relationship will be stable, and regional peace and stability will have an important guarantee,” Xi said.

At a Wednesday press briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying didn’t comment directly on the reported offer, but said the Philippines was “ready to expedite cooperation with China in the joint exploitation of oil and gas.”

“The two sides announced the establishment of an intergovernmental joint steering committee and a working group between relevant enterprises from the two countries on oil and gas cooperation,” she said.

Closer ties

In 2018, the two leaders preliminarily agreed to cooperate on oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea, in a move that angered many Filipinos wary of Chinese territorial expansionism in the region.

The deals included a memorandum of understanding to jointly explore for energy resources, alongside agreements on basic education, agricultural cooperatives and infrastructure projects, Philippines government spokesman J. V. Arcena told CNN at the time.

According to a Chinese draft of the deal, the Chinese side would authorize its state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation to undertake joint exploration in “relevant sea areas” of the South China Sea, CNN Philippines reported.

China tests anti-ship missile in South China Sea, Pentagon says

Beijing claims an enormous swath of territory in the highly contested sea, overlapping competing claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia, among others.

And Manila has been in an awkward dance between Beijing and Washington for years over the South China Sea.

The Philippines in the past has taken a strong line on China’s behavior in the area, even taking China to the international tribunal. But under Duterte, the government has increasingly looked to build an economically beneficial relationship with Beijing.

Nevertheless, tensions between the two sides in the disputed waters have remained tense. In April, the Philippines government filed a diplomatic protest with China over the presence of hundreds of Chinese vessels near a Philippines-administered island in the South China Sea. Duterte then threatened to send his troops on a “suicide mission” if Beijing doesn’t “lay off” the island.

Others

Philippines advised to further diversify its energy sources

13 September 2019

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Philippines

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Over-reliance on one type of energy or dependence on one country as an energy source is a threat to national security, an official of the US Department of State said here, as he pointed to alternative models of resource development that the Philippines can adopt.

“We think that it’s better for the country when you have the best choice of all of the different companies to look at — to look at the bids, to look at the offers — and then make the best choice for the country’s development and for the development of whatever resource you’re talking about,” Kent D. Logsdon, principal deputy secretary of the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR), said in a briefing.

Mr. Logsdon was responding questions from visiting journalists from countries in Asia and Europe where the bureau hopes for greater engagement. ENR leads the State department’s efforts to forge its international energy policy to boost US and global energy security.

“We know there are lots of countries out there, several in particular, with state-owned enterprises who are very aggressive and who will come in with a checkbook,” he said.

He pointed to China and concerns from the United States about resource development models that offer terms to countries in the region, particularly those with territorial claims in the South China Sea, that center on joint exploration between a Chinese state-owned enterprise and a local company.

“We find that troubling,” Mr. Logsdon said.

He said the United States has been clear about its stand that the South China Sea is an international open waterway.

“US companies and other international companies should also be free to operate there. We continue to make that very clear, I think, in both word and deed. So we talked to China and we talked to countries in the region to say that,” he said.

For the United States, national security is threatened when its allies lack reliable access to diversified, affordable and reliable energy; foreign energy markets shut out US companies; market-based energy solutions are hindered by poor governance; competition for energy leads to conflict; or terrorists and rogue regimes exploit energy resources to fund violence and destabilizing activities.

ENR serves as the principal advisor of the Secretary of State on energy security, policy, operations and programs. As opposed to domestic concerns of the US Department of Energy, the bureau’s focus is more international.

Mr. Logsdon said the bureau works with governments in setting an enabling environment for companies to do business fairly.

“Sometimes, a state-owned enterprise might win a competition, but if it’s a fair and open competition, that’s what companies are looking for — that they were able to bid, and that they were able to get their bid considered in a fair way and the best company was chosen,” he said.

He said the US is promoting a private sector-led model of energy resource development where its companies, especially the smaller ones, can offer solutions, especially in renewable energy.

Asked about the enabling environment that US firms are looking for, he said these are the same as what other governments and businesses around the world would seek. In energy legislation, for instance, he said these the same as what US companies tell the government.

“But again it’s pretty basic — it’s transparent processes, they’re looking for what is the process if you have a dispute, how do you resolve that,” Mr. Logsdon said.

“They start from the beginning — in the very fairness of getting a contract, that if they put a bid down, it’s an open, transparent competition in order to win that. And then there’s the relationship with the government to figure out how they will share, whether it’s a production sharing agreements, whether it’s just again dispute resolution mechanism, what do you do when there’s a problem.”

Mr. Logsdon said US companies are keen to participate in Philippine projects, including petroleum exploration, if they see “the right kind of structure and enabling framework.”

“The US government can’t direct US companies to any place in the world,” he said.

“They have to see a resource that they think they can develop, and that they can actually be a profitable company there… that’s the bottom line.”

Others

Freeport’s copper export quota triples to 700,000 tons

13 September 2019

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Indonesia

KONTAN.CO.ID – JAKARTA. The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry decided this month to increase mining company Freeport Indonesia’s copper concentrate export quota to 700,000 wet metric tons (wmt), a more than threefold increase on the previous quota of 198,282 wmt.

The ministry’s minerals director Yunus Saefulhak told reporters in Jakarta on Friday that the decision was a result of successful optimization schemes at the company’s Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua province.

“Some studies were conducted and we found that it is still possible to optimize and exploit available means of production,” he said.

He added that the increased copper export quota did not change the company’s overall copper production target of 1.3 million wmt for this year.

The higher quota is a revision of Freeport’s one-year copper export license that was renewed in March.

Energy Cooperation ,
Oil & Gas

Russia’s Vietnam Joint Venture Reports $1.28bn in Oil, Gas Sales

12 September 2019

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Vietnam

Vietsovpetro, a joint oil and gas venture by Vietnam and Russia, has earned $1.28 billion from sales in the first eight months of this year, 19.4 per cent over its yearly target, Vietnam News reports.

During the period, the Vietnamese side gained more than $101 million in profit and the Russian’s, $97.4 million, rising 26.7 per cent and 27 per cent respectively above their annual goals, the company said.

The volume of crude oil and condensate tapped surpassed 11.5 per cent while that for natural gas was 16.7 per cent higher than the respective targets for the January-August period.

Vietsovpetro also put 12 wells into exploitation while installing more than 8,270 tonnes of metal facilities at sea and 34km of piping underwater.

The joint venture contributed nearly $534 million to the State budget during the period, almost 22 per cent higher than planned.

In March, Vietsovpetro held a ceremony in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau to welcome the first flow of oil it pumped up from Ca Tam field.

The oil field is close to Vietnam’s largest oil field named Bach Ho also run by Vietsovpetro. The oil field is located outside the “Nine-Dash Line”, a region which is part of the South China Sea and also claimed by China. The daily yields are estimated at 230 barrels.

Vietsovpetro owns a 55 percent stake in the field along with PVEP at 30 percent and Bitexco Group, Vietnam’s real estate holds 15 percent stake. As per media reports, this oil field is the first new site of Vietnam discovered after a long period of time.

Electricity/Power Grid

Community power plan clears panel

12 September 2019

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Thailand

The National Energy Policy Council (NEPC) has approved community-owned power projects under the Energy for All scheme, enabling private companies to form joint ventures with local communities to operate renewable power projects in remote areas.

The council, chaired by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, gave the nod on Wednesday in order to enhance the management efficiency of local power projects.

Private companies can invest in the Energy for All scheme, and two state power enterprises — the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and the Provincial Electricity Authority — are also allowed to invest in community-owned power projects, said Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong.

“The government aims to strengthen local communities that have the potential to establish their own power plants,” he said. “They can reduce power costs in the long run, consume the electricity output and increase value for other businesses such as storage for farm and processed crop products.”

Mr Sontirat said Egat will purchase surplus electricity from the power projects, while communities can generate income by selling raw materials to be used as fuel in the plants.

The government aims to boost remote communities and impoverished areas with the power projects, which are expected to commence operation in 2022.

Separately, the council also approved a plan to promote biodiesel production in order to stabilise the country’s stock of crude palm oil.

“The government will implement biodiesel B10 as the primary diesel in early 2020, replacing the current biodiesel B7,” Mr Sontirat said. “B7 and B20 will be alternative diesels.”

The government will introduce B10 in October with a price two baht per litre lower than for B7. B20 will be three baht per litre lower than B7, down from five baht previously.

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