Petrovietnam tech arm wants more chances for domestic firms

Petrovietnam’s technical services firm PTSC has asked for more opportunities for local contractors in oil and gas projects across the country, meaning less foreign contractors.

PTSC CEO Le Manh Cuong - during his meeting with National Assembly Economic Committee on Friday, also joined by state-run Petrovietnam executives - presented several petitions in developing projects in the sector in the time to come.

For offshore projects, there should be mechanisms to limit international bidding while encouraging domestic companies to prove their competence, local media quoted Cuong as saying.

For onshore and on-ground projects, no Vietnamese companies are qualified to be engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors to date. But with an aim to develop domestic companies and maximize the localization ratio, a possible way to support domestic contractors, according to PTSC, is that Petrovietnam seeks government approval of domestic bids only while expanding the list of international bidders with intellectual property rights to provide the most efficient and suitable technology solutions.

Given a globally increasing trend of protecting domestic firms, PTSC proposed the National Assembly and Government allow Petrovietnam to deploy technical barriers to create more jobs for domestic companies.