Prospecting and/or exploring petroleum in Vietnam without approval shall be fined up to VND 600 million

According to Article 6 of the Decree No. 99/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, penalties for administrative violations against regulations on petroleum exploration are as follows:

1. A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to provide documents and specimens obtained during the drilling process to the competent authority as prescribed.

2. A fine ranging from VND 300,000,000 to VND 400,000,000 shall be imposed for drilling outside the area specified in the petroleum contract when the competent agency has not granted permission but no sources of income have been generated or the illegal profit obtained is less than VND 100,000,000.

3. A fine ranging from VND 400,000,000 to VND 600,000,000 shall be imposed for prospecting and/or exploring petroleum in case the petroleum contract or the work program and annual budget have not been approved by the competent authority but no sources of income have been generated or the illegal profit obtained is less than VND 100,000,000.

4. A fine ranging from VND 600,000,000 to VND 800,000,000 shall be imposed for prospecting and/or exploring petroleum within an area which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has declared as a prohibited or temporarily prohibited area but no sources of income have been generated or the illegal profit obtained is less than VND 100,000,000.

5. A fine ranging from VND 1,800,000,000 to VND 2,000,000,000 shall be imposed for infringing upon any land, island, internal waters, territorial sea, exclusive economic zone or continental shelf of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the purposes of researching, prospecting and exploring petroleum but no sources of income have been generated or the illegal profit obtained is less than VND 100,000,000.

6. A fine equal to the maximum fine of the fine bracket shall be imposed for the violations prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this Article if the illegal profit obtained is at least VND 100,000,000 while no criminal prosecution is brought.

View more details at the Decree No. 99/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, effective from October 11, 2020.

Le Vy

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE