PVN plans to divest another $187 million from its non-core business in 2015.— Photo petrotimes.vn

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam (PVN), has set a target to divest some VND4 trillion (US$187.7 million) from its non-core capital this year.

The divestment is part of a restructuring plan approved by the government in 2013, in which PVN has to divest VND5 trillion ($234.7 million) from its non-core sectors, such as finance, insurance, banking and property, during this year. Its capital will be focused in the core sectors of oil and gas exploitation, petrochemicals, electricity, and high-quality oil and gas services.

In 2014, PVN ranked first amongst the top corporations with the largest revenue in the country for the seventh consecutive year. In the same year, it divested VND1.067 trillion ($46.9 million) from its non-core investments.

Local media reported that PVN's revenue of VND745.5 trillion ($35.04 billion) in 2014 surpassed the year's target by 11.8 per cent and contributed VND178.1 trillion ($8.37 billion) to the State budget despite the impact of declining oil prices worldwide, the complicated developments in the East Sea and the EU and US economic sanctions against Russia.

The group also aimed to increase its total oil output to 35-40 million tonnes and exploit around 16.8 million tonnes of crude oil and 9.98 billion cubic metres of gas in 2015, while it expects to produce 19.3 billion kWh of electricity, 1.56 million tonnes of nitrogen and 5.66 million tonnes of petrol and oil at the same time.— VNS