On 26 November 2011, a delegation of the Joint Operating Company Vietgazprom headed by managing director Valerey Petrenko took part in celebrations commemorating the 50^thanniversary of the oil-and-gas industry in Vietnam.

The ceremony, held at the Hanoi National Convention Centre, was attended by senior officials and party leaders from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV): vice-president of the SRV, Nguyen Thi SRV Zoan; Parliament Speaker Nguyen Shin Hung; Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai; Interior Minister Tran Quang Dai; and secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, Pham Quang Nghi.

From the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) PetroVietnam, the event was attended by Chairman Phung Dinh Thuc, the president of PVN Do Van Hau, a number of other managers from the corporation and its subsidiaries, as well as veterans of the oil industry from different generations.

In his speech, Phung Dinh Thuc talked about the history of the creation and main stages of the formation of Vietnam’s oil-and-gas industry, emphasizing that over 50 years, PVN PetroVietnam has actually created a national oil-and-gas industry which now includes the complete production cycle - from exploration to providing a variety of services to final consumers, and therefore has made a decisive contribution to guaranteeing the country’s energy independence. According to him, in Vietnam, where at the turn of 19^th and 20^th centuries nobody could even think about the presence of oil and gas, reserves of 1.3 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons are now confirmed. Since 1981, joint cooperation in Vietnam has discovered 20 oil-and-gas fields, as well as five oil fields in Russia and Malaysia. In November 2011, PVN’s accumulated production volume exceeded 353 million tons of standard fuel. Over the past half century, PetroVietnam has earned almost $ 160 billion annually by increasing production by an average of 20%, with more than $ 57 billion being paid into the state budget.

During the ceremony, PVN PetroVietnam was awarded the Order "for military valour" of the first degree, Vietsovpetro was awarded the title "Hero of Labour".