A Petrovietnam employee receives a COVID-19 vaccine jab.

Working with Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial leaders on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and head of the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control Vu Duc Dam said if the pandemic spreads to seaports and oil and gas facilities, Vietnam’s transport and logistics services as well as the oil and gas sector will be hard hit.

As a mainstay state-owned enterprise which operates and manages key oil and gas facilities, Petrovietnam plays a key role in ensuring Vietnam’s energy and food security, contributing enormously to the State budget and macro-economic stability. Despite the resurgence of COVID-19, Petrovietnam and its affiliates have managed to fulfill the twin goals of fighting the pandemic and maintaining production and trade. It had surpassed most assigned targets for 2020 and the first half of 2021, while contributing 21 million USD to COVID-19 prevention and control. While a number of state-owned enterprises were seriously affected by the pandemic, PetroVietnam’s contributions are significant not only to the State budget but also to social life.

To ensure the safety and health of their more than 50,000 managers, experts and workers,  Petrovietnam and its affiliates have actively sought COVID-19 vaccine supplies and registered vaccination for their staff, apart from enforcing strict prevention and control measures such as “three on site” and “one road – two destinations”.

Petrovietnam’s major projects such as Song Hau 1 thermal power plant, face delay due to social distancing that leads to the shortage of workers and experts. As about 1,300 workers from contractors are working on the Song Hau construction site, constant direct contacts are likely to spread infections. If a COVID-19 case is found there, many workers will be sent to a concentrated quarantine facility and travelling restrictions will be enforced. Trial run and commercial production will not meet the plan assigned by the Government. If similar cases occur in oil rigs and seaports, the damage will go beyond the group to cause unpredictable consequences to the economy.

Therefore, Petrovietnam has made vaccination the top priority in order to prevent the pandemic and ensure smooth production and trade. Regarding the Song Hau 1 thermal power plant project, Petrovietnam has actively worked with ministries, agencies and authorities of Hau Giang and Can Tho to seek vaccination for its workers at the construction site. However, only nine members of the project’s management board have been vaccinated. The remaining workers have yet to be inoculated, together with thousands of experts and workers from contractors and sub-contractors.

Workers at Nhon Trach 2 power plant test for COVID-19.

Petrovietnam’s strategic products such as gas, electricity, petrol are “flows of energy” which can be considered the “bloodline” of a region and a country while fertiliser plants have the ultimate task of ensuring food security amid the scarcity of fertilizer supplies and price hike at present. Therefore, protecting oil and gas facilities against COVID-19 means protecting key national works. Sharing the same view with Deputy PM Dam, at a recent teleconference between permanent Government members and 27 southern cities and provinces to discuss pandemic response, Secretary of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau provincial Party Committee Pham Viet Thanh said one of the current priorities is ensuring the safety of seaports, maritime transport system, oil and gas activities and several key projects. He suggested offering vaccine packages for workers in these areas.

PetroVietnam and its affiliates are exerting an all-out effort to access vaccine sources as quickly as possible via different channels. PetroVietnam has come up with a plan to provide suitable equipment and timely deal with contingencies to ensure the goal of preventing production chain disruption and make positive contributions to the national economy.