The ten members of the ASEAN Council on Petroleum (ASCOPE) agreed this week to boost cooperation.

PetroVietnam has cooperated with other regional partners to establish boundaries of joint oil exploration areas since its entry into ASCOPE in 1996. 

ASCOPE’s members made the commitment at their 83rd national committee meeting in Viet Nam held from May 15 to 17 in the central city of Da Nang.

The participants agreed to promote the reuse of waste catalysts in refineries, upgrade and expand refineries, optimise the model of heat exchanger cleaning and rank the optimal level of operating capacity.

In addition, ASCOPE negotiated to enhance an emergency response system for gas shortages to address possible energy security emergencies among ASEAN countries.

Nguyen Quynh Lam, deputy general director of Viet Nam’s National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and chairman of ASCOPE National Committee for Viet Nam, said Viet Nam had provided initiatives on the provision of facilities and logistics within member countries and other ideas in order to implement ASCOPE goals and ensure members’ interests.

The Council also agreed to continue developing the guidelines for decommissioning the region’s substantial stock of ageing offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

In the previous meeting in Cambodia last year, ASCOPE decided to change its vision and mission, organisational structure, model, content of activities and priority projects in line with the directions of the ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting.

Ascope, established in 1975, has ten members including Brunei national petroleum company (PetroleumBRUNEI), Ministry of Mines and Energy Cambodia (MME), Indonesia national oil company (Pertamina), Lao State fuel company (LSFC), Malaysia oil and gas company (Petronas), Myanmar oil and gas enterprise (M.O.G.E), Philippines national oil company (PNOC), Singapore liquefied natural gas (SLNG), Thailand oil and gas company (PTT) and Viet Nam’s National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam).

PetroVietnam joined ASCOPE in 1996 and since then, the group has cooperated with other regional partners to establish boundaries of joint oil exploration areas. 

VNS