What are prohibited acts in petroleum operations in Vietnam?

What are prohibited acts in petroleum operations in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 9 of the Law on Petroleum in 2022 (effective from 01/07/2023) stipulating prohibited acts in petroleum operations in Vietnam as follows:

- Carry out fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations without permission of competent authorities.

- Take advantage of fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations to affect national defense, security, national interests and legal interests of organizations and individuals; cause environmental pollution.

- Take advantage of fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations to exploit other natural resources and minerals.

- Obstruct lawful activities in the process of performance of fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations.

- Deliberately destroy assets, equipment and petroleum installations; destroy samples, information and data collected during the process of performance of fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations.

- Illegally provide samples, information and data collected during the process of performance of fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations.

- Be involved in corruption, cause losses and waste during the process of performance of fundamental investigations of petroleum and its operations.

Which authority shall issue investment registration certificates to contractors performing petroleum operations in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 27 of the Law on Petroleum in 2022 (effective from 01/07/2023) stipulating authority issuing investment registration certificates to contractors performing petroleum operations in Vietnam as follows:

Issuance of investment registration certificates

1. On the basis of the signed petroleum contracts, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall issue investment registration certificates to contractors performing petroleum operations.

2. Main contents of an investment registration certificate consist of:

a) Name of the petroleum contract, oil block, petroleum project;

b) Objectives and scale;

c) Execution site;

d) Operating office;

dd) Contractors, participation interest rate, operator;

e) Minimum financial commitment of the hydrocarbon exploration phase;

g) The contractor’s financial, technical and risk responsibilities;

h) Rights of the contractor who is eligible for recovering costs obtained from the oil production according to the petroleum contract;

i) Term of the petroleum contract;

k) Effective date of the petroleum contract.

3. The Government shall issue regulations on documents and procedures for issuance of investment registration certificates.

As regulations above, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall issue investment registration certificates to contractors performing petroleum operations.

What are included in the safety zones around offshore petroleum installations in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Petroleum in 2022 (effective from 01/07/2023) stipulating safety zones around offshore petroleum installations in Vietnam as follows:

Requirements for petroleum security

1. Organizations and individuals performing petroleum operations must establish safety zones around petroleum installations.

2. Safety zones around offshore petroleum installations include:

a) Petroleum reserved blocks (no-go zones) of offshore petroleum installations, except for subsea installations, refer to areas with a radius of 500 meters measured from the outermost edges of the installations in all directions including anchorages of floating vehicles and mobile structures, except for special cases decided by the Government;

b) No-anchoring areas or areas under prohibition on deep seabed operations refer to areas with a radius of 02 nautical miles measured from the outermost edges of the petroleum installations including subsea installations; vehicles and vessels shall not be permitted to anchor or perform deep seabed operations, except for special cases approved by the contractors or decided by the Prime Minister.

3. Safety zones around onshore petroleum installations refer to safety areas surrounding installations and equipment serving onshore petroleum operations, depending on geographical and social conditions of places where petroleum operations are carried out, for the purpose of ensuring security for the people and vehicles during the process of performance of petroleum operations.

4. Organizations and individuals performing petroleum operations must carry out the following tasks for ensuring petroleum security:

a) Formulate documents on security management, including security management programs, risk assessment reports and emergency response plans and submit them to competent authorities for approval thereof;

b) Establish, maintain and develop security management systems, thereby ensuring control of risks incurring during the entire process of petroleum operation;

c) Establish and maintain emergency response systems in a manner of ensuring the efficiency and minimizing losses of people and assets or damage to environment due to incidents or accidents;

d) Equip with warning systems that are able to detect possible bad circumstances causing harm for installations and environment and automatically give notices of normally unmanned offshore petroleum installations to operation centers ;

dd) Prepare emergency vessels for ensuring timely rescue in cases of emergency in respect of normally manned offshore petroleum installations. Operators working in oil neighboring oil fields or blocks use the same emergency vessel but availability of emergency vessels must be ensured.

5. The Government of Vietnam shall elaborate this Article.

As regulations above, safety zones around offshore petroleum installations include:

+) Petroleum reserved blocks (no-go zones) of offshore petroleum installations, except for subsea installations, refer to areas with a radius of 500 meters measured from the outermost edges of the installations in all directions.

Including anchorages of floating vehicles and mobile structures, except for special cases decided by the Government.

+) No-anchoring areas or areas under prohibition on deep seabed operations refer to areas with a radius of 02 nautical miles measured from the outermost edges of the petroleum installations.

Including subsea installations; vehicles and vessels shall not be permitted to anchor or perform deep seabed operations, except for special cases approved by the contractors or decided by the Prime Minister.

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