Vietnam pipedreams for UK oil firms

A host of the UK-based oil and gas companies are keen to enter the Vietnamese marketPhoto: Le Toan

This was the second delegation of its kind within just a month. These ten companies discussed potential co-operation projects with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, PetroVietnam and other state-owned and foreign oil and gas companies.

Piers Craven, head of Trade and Investment Division at the British Embassy in Hanoi, told VIR that the first eight-company delegation in late September ‘had productive meetings with Vietnam-based partners,” and “specific positive results from these meetings will be publicised over the next few weeks.”

“This second delegation follows the first successful one. Vietnam has great potential for UK oil and gas companies and Vietnam is a priority in the UK’s trade policy,” Craven said. “Many more UK oil and gas sector companies will come to Vietnam in the coming period.”

Sue Keeler, secretary of Loadtec Engineered Systems manufacturing tanker loading systems for any liquid including chemicals, fuel, beverages and food, said the firm “is not simply selling products and services”. “More importantly we want to establish long-term partnerships and even representative offices or factories here.”

Thomas Ouseph, field sales manager of Bunzl Greenham Export providing solutions for personal safety and protection equipment, cleaning and hygiene materials and building contractor site equipment, said he wanted to meet prospective agents or distributors to sell our range of products to the Vietnamese market.

Planning to establish a representative office in Vietnam, Oil Plus’ David Hartley regional sales manager - Asia Pacific stressed that the company wanted “to further develop technical and commercial contacts and service provision within the upstream oil and gas industry in Vietnam.” Oil Plus has developed a good reputation with more than 270 clients operating over 450 oil fields in 51 countries.

Leonard Pinheiro, representative of Shipshore, which supplies machinery and spare parts to the marine, oil and gas industries, said Shipshore had representative offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. “Our objective is to partner with marine, oil and gas companies in procurement and to extend our expertise in the Vietnamese market,” he said.

One of the main reasons behind the eagerness to operate in Vietnam was that the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement currently under negotiation would see prioritised import tax rates on oil and gas equipment into Vietnam. At present, these tax rates have yet to be finalised.

Under the World Trade Organisation commitments, member nations share the same prioritised tariff levels for oil and gas equipment. “With these two agreements, we’re not concerned over tariff issues when exporting products to Vietnam,” said Nigel Mount, director of Mount Laboratories UK Ltd providing high-quality laboratory products and services.