Valeriy Gulev, the Managing Director of Gazprom International, took part in the delegation of Public Joint Stock Company Gazprom, which has paid a visit to the city of Ho Chi Minh, the industrial and business center of Southern Vietnam, on the 22nd of October.

Arrival of the Gazprom delegation, headed by the Deputy Chairman of Management Committee Vitaly Markelov, was timed to coincide with the festivities celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Petrovietnam. The series of festive events organized to celebrate the anniversary in the Exhibition Center of Ho Chi Minh featured a conference exhibition themed as "Petrovietnam - 40 years of integration and development", with over 80 Vietnamese and foreign companies like Petrovietnam, PVEP, PV Gas, Zarubezhneft, Rosneft, Petronas, etc. participating therein. On the opening day of the exhibition, on October 21, the Gazprom pavilion was visited by the Vice-Prime Minister of the SRV, Hoang Trung Hai, overseeing the fuel and energy industry, accompanied by Nguyen Qouc Khanh, Head of the Vietnam Oil and Gas group Petrovietnam.

During his stay in Ho Chi Minh, Vitaly Markelov had a meeting with Nguyen Qouc Khanh. Apart from the Head of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, the meeting was attended on behalf of the Vietnamese party by the Vice President of Petrovietnam Nguyen Vu Truong Son;  Duong Manh Son, CEO of PV Gas (gas operator within the structure of the Petrovietnam Group); Dang Anh Tuan, Deputy Head of the operating  company Bien Dong POC, which implements a joint project on shelf blocks No. 05-2 and 05-3, and a number of other high-ranking executives of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group.

Alongside Vitaly Markelov, the Gazprom Group was represented at the meeting by the Management Committee Member Vsevolod Cherepanov, Head of Gas, Gas Condensate and Oil Production Department; Head of the Design Work Department Andrey Skrepnyuk, Foreign and Joint Hydrocarbon Deposit Development Project Implementation Department Head Vladimir Rabkin, Managing Director of Gazprom International Valeriy Gulev, CEO of the Joint Operating Company Vietgazprom Sergey Tumanov, CEO of the Gazprom Gazomotormoye Toplivo Mikhail Likhachev and several other representatives of the consortium.

Opening the meeting, Vitaly Markelov expressed his congratulations and best wishes to the Vietnamese colleagues on behalf of the Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee Alexey Miller and the Chairman of Board of Directors Viktor Zubkov. "Lasting for 40 years already, the history of our relations is filled with tremendous doings and accomplishments," said the head of the Russian delegation in his complimentary speech. "We have a lot of projects ahead of us, designated for implementation at the current stage or in the foreseeable future, and I am sure we will have much to be proud of during the next 40 years as well."

During negotiations, the parties have discussed the current situation pertaining to the implementation of the primary joint projects. In particular, the participants of the meeting gave a hearing to Duong Manh Son's report on the commencement of operations by the recently founded joint venture PVGAZPROM NGV in the realm of implementation of natural gas for vehicles projects in Vietnam. According to his words, all the documentation required in order to hold a procurement tender for the choice of a contractor for development of the feasibility study is already prepared by now; the company's representatives have traveled the provinces of Southern Vietтam, meeting the local authorities and discussing the prospects of potential cooperation in the setting of commencement of the joint venture operations, and assessed the readiness of the regions to take part in the joint efforts aimed at NGV project implementation.  Head of PV Gas, a company that constitutes PVGAZPROM NGV along with Gazprom International and Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo, has also reported that this enterprise is scheduled to hold its first meeting of the Board of Directors in the nearest future, in order to consider the issues that are fundamental for commencing the operations of the joint venture.

'These will be the issues of planning, drawing up cost estimates, staff structure, authority of the company's CEO, financial participation of the parties and a number of other aspects,' said Duong Manh Son.

On the same day, the Gazprom delegation was greeted in Ho Chi Minh by the Head of the city's People's Committee (the Mayor's Office) Le Hoang Quan. The Mayor gave a warm welcome to the Russian company representatives, having pointed out that the local authorities are enthusiastic about the arrival of a new large investor to the region and its natural gas for vehicles project. "In terms of the amount of foreign investments drawn, Ho Chi Minh is among the world's leading megalopolises," said Le Hoang Quan. "In the nearest future, we intend to file our proposals with the government concerning the introduction of preferential mechanisms for transport running on NGV fuel and to run a special advertising campaign in order to demonstrate all the benefits of using environment-friendly fuel."

According to his words, the city's administration plans to have about one third of the total car market comprised of gas engine vehicles by 2020, with the help of Gazprom.

In the evening, the management of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Petrovietnam, headed by Nguyen Quoc Khanh, and held a ceremonial reception in honor of the Gazprom delegation.

NOTE

On the 15th of October 2015, the incorporation procedure of the joint Vietnamese and Russian company for implementing projects in the industry of usage of natural gas as vehicle fuel PVGAZPROM Natural Gas For Vehicles Limited Liability Company (PVGAZPROM NGV) was completed.

The joint venture was comprised as follows: Gazprom International, the unified specialized enterprise of the Public Joint-Stock Company Gazprom specializing in the prospecting, exploration and development of hydrocarbon deposits outside the territory of the Russian Federation (35,5%), Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo, the consortium,'s sole operator in charge of development of the NGV market (35,5%) and the Joint-Stock Company PETROVIETNAM GAS (PV Gas, 29%). Objectives of the joint venture are as follows: the construction and commissioning of natural gas liquefaction facilities, cryogenic and multi-fuel filling stations, individual fuel pumps for water transport, liquefied natural gas acceptance, storage and re-gasification facilities, vehicle refit and service depots and other objects of gas engine infrastructure for servicing machines and mechanisms using natural gas as engine fuel.

The agreement of incorporation of this joint venture was signed in November 2013 in Hanoi by the Chairman of the PJSC Gazprom Management Committee Alexey Miller and Do Van Hau, currently the ex-President of Petrovietnam, in presence of the Presidents of Russia and Vietnam.

On behalf of Gazprom, Gazprom International has assumed a 49% share in the Moc Tinh and Hai Thach gas deposit prospecting and development project implemented within the boundaries of shelf blocks No 05-2 and No 05-3 in 2012, having commenced commercial mining therein in 2013 and achieved an output of 3 billion cubic meters of gas to this day. Raw materials obtained within the boundaries of this project are intended to be supplied to production facilities for the purpose of meeting the Southern Vietnamese demand for natural gas for vehicles fuel.

In 2000, Gazprom and Petrovietnam signed a contract on the prospecting, exploration, production and sale of hydrocarbons at block 112 of the SRV Continental Shelf. For the performance thereof, the parties have founded the Joint Operating Company Vietgazprom, with Gazprom represented therein by Gazprom International. In 2007, the gas condensate deposit of Bao Vang has been discovered on the shelf block. A gas deposit sharing the same name was discovered within the adjacent area of Bao Den.

In 2008, the parties have signed the Cooperation Agreement, which provides for the performance of exploration and further development of four new blocks of the SRV shelf, as well as the incorporation of the Gazpromviet Joint Venture to operate in Russia and third countries. Nagumanovskoe oil-gas condensate deposit in Orenburg Oblast and Severo-Purovskoye gas condensate deposit in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District were designated as the primary objects for the operations of the joint venture.

In October 2008, Gazprom and Petrovietnam have signed a long-term contract regarding blocks No. 129, 130, 131 and 132 of the Continental Shelf of Vietnam on terms of a production sharing agreement, with Vietgazprom acting as the operator. A large amount of geological exploration has already been carried out within the boundaries of this contract, and the drilling of a prospecting borehole at depth of over 1600 m below sea level has been commenced in August 2015 at the block No. 131.

In 2009, Gazprom and Petrovietnam have signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement. The parties have agreed to continue cooperation in the Vietnam Shelf within the boundaries of earlier contracts and study the opportunities to work on new licensed blocks.