PetroVietnam falls short of profit goals

The failure has been blamed on the fall in global oil prices.

PetroVietnam reported a first quarter revenue of just VND64.5 billion (almost US$3 billion), equivalent to 72% of the quarterly target and only 18% of the whole year's plan.

Its after-tax profit was VND9.4 trillion (US$435.2 million), equivalent to 77% of the first-quarter target and 23% of the yearly goal.

The whole group, including the affiliates and subsidiaries, earned VND132.2 trillion (US$6.1 billion) in revenue, 81% of the quarterly target and 18.4 per cent of the goal set for the whole year.

PetroVietnam said the global oil prices continued to fall steeply in the first three months, averaging US$56 per barrel at the end of March, which was a 50.4% fall compared with the first quarter of last year (US$113/barrel), and equivalent to just 56% of the group's price plan (US$100/barrel).

The price of "black gold" is currently about $56 to $58 a barrel in the world market.

This has had negative impact on the group's production and business plans in 2015, as well as its contribution to the State budget in the first quarter. PetroVietnam contributed VND28.5 trillion (US$1.3 billion) to the State Budget in the three months, only 79% of the Q1 target and 18% of the year's plan.

However, it had good results with respect to other business targets. Its industrial production value reached VND125 trillion (US$5.8 billion) in the first quarter, 12% higher than the quarterly target and equivalent to 28% of the yearly goal.

This figure was also a 6.3% increase year-on-year, which contributed largely to the country's GDP growth of 6.03% between January and March.

PetroVietnam produced 7.21 million tonnes of oil, exceeding the first-quarter target by 7.6% and equivalent to 21.7% of the yearly plan. The crude oil output reached 4.61 million tonnes, surpassing the target by 10.4% and up 8.2% year-on-year.

Gas production touched 2.6 billion cubic metres, up 3% compared with the target, and equivalent to 26.5% of the annual plan.

The group's oil and gas reserves also increased to 4.83 million tonnes of oil equivalent, equal to 13.8% of the whole year's target.

The production of power, fertiliser, petrol and fibre also surpassed the three-month targets and registered increases between six and 49%, compared with the same period last year.

PetroVietnam produced 5.37 billion kWh in the first quarter, posting the largest increase of 49.2%, compared with the target, and a rise of 24.8% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the fertiliser output was 424.1 thousand tonnes, petrol production was 1.67 million tonnes and fibre production was 6.67 trillion tonnes.