Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has released a list of State-owned enterprises from which the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam, or PVN) must reduce its ownership between 2017 and 2020.

By 2020, PetroVietnam must reduce its stakes in the following three companies to at least 51 per cent, including PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation (DPM), PetroVietnam Ca Mau Fertiliser JSC (DCM) and PetroVietnam Gas JSC.

More specifically, PVN must reduce its stakes in DPM and DCM to 51 per cent each from the current 61.3 per cent and 75.5 per cent, respectively, by the end of 2018.

The State-owned oil and gas group must sell shares to cut its ownership from nearly 97 per cent to 65 per cent in PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Company between 2018 and 2019.

PetroVietnam must lower its share percentage in PetroVietnam Transportation Corporation to 36 per cent from the current 51 per cent if it successfully reaches an agreement with CitiBank to amend the previous deal on PVN’s ownership signed between the two companies.

The other three companies in which PVN must reduce its ownership to below 50 per cent of charter capital are PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil), Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co Ltd (BSR) and PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power).

PVN currently owns 100 per cent stakes in PV Oil and BSR while its ownership of 51 per cent in PV Power would end by 2019. PVN could offload its stakes in those companies sooner if the group reaches agreements with the banks that are its partners in those firms.

By 2018 and 2019, PVN must sell the entirety of its shares in companies such as PetroVietnam Insurance Corporation (PVI), PetroVietnam Construction Corporation (PVC) and PetroVietnam Maintenance and Repair Corporation.

The ownership percentages that PVN holds in these four companies are 35 per cent, 54.5 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively.

In addition, PVN will have to wait for the Prime Minister’s decisions on its divestment in PetroVietnam Petrochemical and Textile Fiber Company (PVTex) and Dung Quat Ship Building Industry Co Ltd, in which PVN holds 74 per cent and 100 per cent of charter capital.

The Deputy PM also asked PVN to maintain its current ownership in other subsidiaries and associate companies such as PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation, the Viet Nam-Russia joint venture Vietsovpetro and PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation.

PVN’s shares in those three companies are 51.4 per cent, 51 per cent and 50.4 per cent, respectively.

PVN is also required to ensure its divestment plans in the mentioned companies are completed by 2020. The national oil and gas group can make its own decisions to push the divestment progress in those companies if conditions are good, while it should report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade on any challenges and obstacles that occur during the divestment process. — VNS