PetroVietnam struggling with dual crisis of COVID-19 and sharp decrease of oil price

April 01, 2020 | 12:41

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PetroVietnam and its subsidiaries are actively implementing solutions to cope with the double impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and the lowest oil prices in the world market in the last 17 years.

petrovietnam struggling with dual crisis of covid 19 and sharp decrease of oil price

An employee of PVGAS Ca Mau, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam

The solutions by PetroVietnam aim to give the best protection to employees in business and manufacturing activities, minimising the impacts of the epidemic and dropping oil prices.

In the first quarter of this year, PetroVietnam’s employees have mobilised dozens of billion VND to support the fight against COVID-19. Apart from that, many specialised products such as sanitised oil and masks to fight the epidemic have been manufactured by PetroVietnam’s subsidiaries and sent to its staff nationwide.

However, from the double impact of the epidemic and nosediving oil prices, the performance of the group and its subsidiaries were hit heavily in this March and they are expected to continue to face great difficulties in the second quarter and the whole year.

The price of oil has dropped from $60-70 per barrel at the beginning of the year to around $20 per barrel only in the past few days. This low price is expected to last longer.

PetroVietnam aims to give the best protection to its employees in business and manufacturing activities

Many large oil and gas corporations in the world have been forced to implement layoffs.

Determined to protect its workforce, PetroVietnam has been rolling out many initiatives to keep employees in a safe working environment and maintain jobs. These include increasing productivity, saving and effectively using facilities and working equipment by all employees both in the office or working from home.

The group is also reviewing and cutting all emergent expenses to reduce total expenses by 15-30 per cent, including by reducing salaries in this difficult time.

These dual issues have been causing many difficulties to numerous sectors in Vietnam, especially oil and gas.

By Bich Ngoc

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