The decision was made during the 9^th ASCOPE Conference & Exhibition, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 18-20.

The Vietnamese delegation was led by Deputy Director of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) Nguyen Van Minh. The event drew oil and gas officials and experts from Southeast Asian countries and representatives of 200 leading energy companies of 30 countries in and outside the region.

At the conference, themed “Fuelling the future of ASEAN towards Sustainable Development”, participants discussed issues relating to visions, opportunities and challenges in oil and gas exploration and development as well as cooperation in developing green technologies and energies.

They also stressed the importance of strengthening international partnership to ensure the regional energy security in the context that ASEAN needs at least US$100 billion for the energy sector in the next 10-15 years to meet its increasing demand.

ASCOPE was set up on October 15, 1975 with five founding members, namely Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Vietnam has become the council’s seventh member since November 1996.