Oil and gas giant PetroVietnam said it will divest from PetroVietnam Finance Corp 

Thuc said PetroVietnam would not be able to divest capital from this financial company if PVFC continued to operate under the current business model, as this model will soon no longer exist in the group.

"Therefore, in order to withdraw capital from this company, PVFC will have to merge with a bank to perform their banking functions," he said, adding the group was actively seeking a prestigious bank to make a deal.

The merger would be made under special supervision from the State Bank of Viet Nam and the Ministry of Finance, Thuc said. He expected to reduce the holding in this company to 20 percent by 2015 and then gradually to zero per cent later.

PetroVietnam currently owns over 70 percent of PVFC's charter capital.

Thuc said the group's restructuring scheme has been basically approved by the Government and confirmed its divestment plan would be carried out under a roadmap which ensures legality and State capital based on market conditions but is still ready to remove companies that continue to suffer prolonged losses.

In early September, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged PetroVietnam to restructure and divest capital from many subsidiaries and affiliate companies.

The national oil and gas group currently has 29 subsidiary and 206 affiliate companies and it expects to reduce these numbers to 24 subsidiaries and 126 affiliates.

Yesterday in the meeting, the group also reported that its consolidated pre-tax profit had risen to VND43.5 trillion ($2.07 billion) in the first three quarters of this year, completing 74 percent of its yearly plan. This represents an increase of 8 percent year-on-year.

Ending September, the consolidated revenue of the group rose 13 per cent year-on-year to VND290 trillion ($13.8 billion), while the contribution to the State budget increased over 15 percent year-on-year to VND120.1 trillion ($5.7 billion).

Crude output in the first nine months also exceeded goals, reaching 19.33 million metric tonnes, up 10.4 percent year-on-year, with the price of crude oil rising from $116 per barrel in 2011 to $119.5 per barrel this year, lifting revenue from oil and gas services by 16 percent against last year.

Oil sales from January-September reached more than $11 billion, surpassing the yearly target by 11 percent, while revenue from oil and gas services climbed to VND164.2 trillion ($7.8 billion), accounting for 29 percent of the group's total revenue. 

Source:Dtinews