Thread: Latest news on the Dong!

“For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee!” DONG… DONG… DONG…

Sorry, I truly couldn’t resist!


DesertWolf

we need some gosh DONG information!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UK oil firm, PetroVietnam to look for oil off Mekong Basin
The UK-based oil and gas firm Salamander Energy Group Ltd has tied up with state-run giant PetroVietnam to explore for oil off the Mekong Delta coast.

Under a production-sharing contract signed Friday the Southeast Asia-focused British oil firm and PetroVietnam will begin by drilling in Block 1.
The block covers 8,289 sq.km along the coast of three provinces – Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, and Tra Vinh.
Salamander Energy plans to invest US$5.8 million for exploration in the next three years.
If oil is struck the two parties will decide sharing terms in each well in the block.
The contract marks PetroVietnam’s first with a foreign partner in the Mekong area and its 58th overall.
Salamander Energy plans to open an office in Vietnam this year to strengthen local operations and seek new business opportunities.
In related news, a 50:50 venture between PetroVietnam and Malaysian oil firm Petronas has announced the discovery of oil in Vietnam’s southern waters.
Tests in the Dong Do-1X well in the Dong Do structure, Block 02/97, Cuu Long Basin, show an oil flow of 2,500 barrels per day.
The JV had announce last month it found oil and gas in the Thang Long-2X well in the same block with an estimated yield of 5,000 barrels and 38 million cu.m per day.
Vietnam is expected to produce 16.8 million tons of crude oil this year against an initial target of 17.5 million tons.
Over 7.6 million tons of crude oil were exported for $3.8 billion as the country’s number one export turnover earner dropped slightly both in volume and value.
The lower output was due to certain factors like less-than-expected progress in buying an oil field in Kazakhstan and drilling in Malaysia being hit by bad weather, according to the oil group.
The country exported 16.6 million tons of crude oil valued at over US$8.3 billion last year, mainly to China, Singapore, Japan, Britain, and the US.
Vietnam is Southeast Asia's third-largest crude oil producer with output averaging 350,000 barrels per day. But it still imports most of its oil products in the absence of major refineries.
It is building its first refinery, the $2.5 billion Dung Quat complex in Quang Ngai Province, which will open in early 2009, expected to reduce the country’s heavy dependence on oil imports.
And works also started on certain components of the Nghi Son oil refinery in Thanh Hoa province – the country’s second, which is expected to cost up $5.2 billion. It’s slated to become operational in 2013.
Source: PR – Compiled by Dong Ha

Vietnam's VIB to raise $93 mln in share issue
Partly private Vietnam International Bank (VIB) said on Monday it would raise VND1.5 trillion (US$93 million) in a share issue to expand its business.

The Hanoi-based unlisted bank would issue 150 million new shares, of which 13.6 million would be given as dividend payment to shareholders registered by July 18 and the remaining 136.4 million would be sold in two phases.
In the first phase, VIB would sell 35.4 million shares to existing shareholders and issue one million shares to employees.
The bank would also issue 98 million shares to shareholders and sell two million shares to bank staff by September in the second phase, it said.
The proceeds would go to upgrading VIB's infrastructure, funding lending and investing in joint ventures as well as expanding the brand name, VIB said without detailing each investment.
The bank plans to raise its registered capital to VND2.5 trillion ($155 million) by the end of 2007 from VND1 trillion now.
Last year, it won central bank permission to apply to list on Vietnam's stock markets.
But VIB withdrew its application for a listing license as it decided to boost finances before floating shares in order to raise the bank's value, sources familiar with the plan said.
VIB shares fell to VND86,000-88,000 ($5.33-$5.45) on the unregulated, unofficial markets late last week after it won a State Securities Commission licensee for the share issue on June 25, from VND100,000 prior to the license.
The latest prices valued the bank at $540 million.
VIB had assets of VND18 trillion ($1.12 billion) at the end of March, up 8.7 percent from the end of 2006.
Source: Reuters

Vietnam falls on world’s hottest retail market list
Vietnam took a step down on the list of most attractive global retail destinations, losing its third place position to China, according to a study by global consultancy AT Kearney.

While India and Russia have held the top two spots since 2004, China's booming consumer spending, together with a major retail move into second-tier cities, helped it rise to number three from its number five spot last year, according to the 2007 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI).
The study based its results on four variables: "country risk," measuring political risk, debt and credit ratings; "market attractiveness," encompassing retail sales per capita, population, infrastructure and regulations; "market saturation;" and "time pressure."
The higher the ranking, the more urgency for retailers to enter the market, according to the study, which ranks the top 30 emerging countries for retail development focusing on mass-merchants and food retailers.
Vietnam scored 74 on the GRDI, a full 10 points less than last year. The country’s main growth on the list occurred pre-2004 as it gained only marginally during the 2004 and 2005 studies.
Local experts expressed concerns that this revealed unstable development, which could make the retail market less stable.
Statistics breakdown
Vietnam improved its country risk rating this year, though the growth has been very slow.
In 2004, Vietnam received 52 points in the category. In 2005, it won 54 points and 43 in 2006. This year, it hopped to 57 points in the category.
However, China scored 75 points in the category for 2007, Russia 62, and India 67.
Vietnam made the most encouraging improvement in terms of attractiveness, but it still fell far short of its three main competitors.
Vietnam won 29 points in 2004 and 2005, 24 in 2006 and 34 in 2007, much lower than India’s 42, China’s 46, and Russia’s 52.
But Vietnam saw sharp declines in the other two criteria.
While the country had scored got 90 points for market saturation level in 2004, it got 88 in 2005, 87 in 2006 and only 76 marks in 2007.
Vietnam’s worst category was time pressure. Vietnam scored only 59 in terms of “time pressure,” a huge drop of 22 points over the previous year.
China lost only four time pressure marks on the year, scoring 84 in the category. India scored 74 and Russia 90.
Source: VnExpress

Korea group proposes $1 bln steel factory in central Vietnam
Dongkuk Steel Group – South Korea’s third largest steel producer – has proposed to build a US$1 billion steel mill in central Vietnam’s Dung Quat Economic Zone, the proud home of Vietnam’s first oil refinery.

The facility will manufacture steel bars, steel sheets and other steel products for domestic sale at the economic zone (EZ) in Quang Ngai province.
Details on the mill’s production capacity and construction schedule are not yet available.
If the project is approved by Vietnamese authorities, it will rival another $1 billion steel complex in the zone, built by the Thai arm of Taiwan’s Tycoons company. The first mill in the project is slated to open in 2009.
Vietnam spent $842 million importing nearly 1.5 million tons of steel billets and finished products in the first quarter of this year, posting year-on-year rises of 69.3 percent and 41.1 percent respectively.
Authorities estimated that Vietnam needs 10 million tons of steel of different kinds by 2010, 15 million tons by 2015 and 20 million tons by 2020.
Many foreign steel groups are awaiting permission to invest in Vietnam’s steel projects as the country is viewed as a gateway to the Southeast Asian market - the world's largest steel importer.
Many high-tech steel products still need to be imported as Vietnamese producers cannot make them.
To date, Dung Quat has licensed projects worth over $5 billion and has some 35 additional projects pending.
The EZ has 46 operational or under-construction projects.
Big investments in the EZ include Tycoons Group, a $260 million heavy industry complex by Korea’s Doosan Group, an oil refinery by PetroVietnam, and a $750-million shipyard by the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.
The zone has set itself an FDI target of over $6 billion and export target of $120 million by 2010.
Source: SGGP – Compiled by Dong Ha

New oil discovery offshore Vietnam

Nhan Dan - Lam Son Joint Operating Company (Lam Son JOC) has announced the second success in its 2007 Drilling Campaign, discovering commercial oil at Dong Do Prospect, Block 02/97, Cuu Long Sedimentary Basin in the south-east offshore Vietnam.
Drilling of the Dong Do-1X well was started on May 15, 2007. Oil has been discovered at the middle Miocene sandstone reservoir with a flow rate of 2,500 barrels of oil a day.
The discovery of oil in the middle Miocene sandstone reservoir has opened up new possibilities for oil exploration in the Cuu Long basin. The depth of the reservoir, around 1,500 metres, is also said to be the shallowest in the region to date.
Lam Son JOC is a joint-venture between PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Corporation (PVEP) and Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn. Bhd (PCOSB), Malaysia.
The Lam Son JOC is joint venture between the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, PetroVietnam, and Malaysia’s Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn.Bhd.

Thais to found $220 mln packaging plant Friday
A Thai cement company will break ground on a US$220 million packaging paper factory in southern Vietnam Friday.

Siam Cement Group (SCG)’s wholly-owned Vina Kraft Paper Co. will build the plant in the My Phuoc Industrial Park 3 in Binh Duong province, which borders Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s economic hub.
The first phase of the project is estimated to cost $140 million.
Once operational in early 2009, it would churn out 220,000 tons of packaging products per year, 90 percent of which would be sold locally and the rest exported to neighboring countries.
There is strong demand for the product in Vietnam since almost half the nation’s 580,000-ton annual demandis imported.
Demand for the commodity is forecast to grow at 10 -15 percent for the next 10 years, according to Vietnamese statistics.
The new plant will scale up the company’s packaging paper capacity to 1.74 million tons a year.
Established in 1913, SCG - active in sectors such as chemicals, paper, cement, building materials and dis­tribution - is increasing its invest­ment in Vietnam as well as seeking more potential markets.
In its expansion strategy for the region, SCG has viewed Vietnam as a potential destination for greater investment. SCG has to date in­vested in three main fields - chemicals, building materials and paper.
In chemicals, SCG now has four sites in Vietnam. Viet-Thai Plastchem manufactures PVC compounds, founded in 1994 with $3.5 million in capital, with 15,000 tons a year in capacity.
TPC Vina Chemical and Plastic Corporation is the second as a PVC resin producer with $27 million in capital and 100, 000 tons a year in capacity.
SCG also set up Chemtech Co. Ltd. in 2004 worth $467,000 to manufacture cross-linked polyethylene, as well as the Minh Thai House Component Co. Ltd. in 2006 to pro­duce PVC windows with total capi­tal of $1 million and an annual capacity for 37,000 sq.m.
SCG also opened the CPAC Monier Com­pany with initial capital of $4 million last year at the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Binh Duong, manufacturing 1. 5 million sq.m of concrete roofing tile and 1.3 million units of roofing ridge material per year.
Last year, the group obtained $5.46 billion in revenue.
Source: TBKTVN - Compiled by Dong Ha

Viet Kieu-owned US oil firm to list on NYSE Euronext
A US petroleum affiliate owned by Vietnamese American is set to debut on the NYSE/Euronext stock exchange in Paris on July 9.

The firm, American Technologies Inc. Petroleum (ATIP), will operate under its US parent, American Technologies Inc. (ATI).

On behalf of ATIP, European underwriter Europe Finance et Industrie (EFI) will ensure the trading of the necessary number of initial shares on the exchange at nominal prices.

The official trading of ATIP shares on the NYSE/Euronext bourse is expected to be somewhere between €10-15 (US$13.6 - 20) each on the debut.


The money mobilized will be injected into projects in oil and uranium fields.
ATIP is best known for its petroleum exploration work in developing countries like Vietnam, Ghana and Tunisia.
The company had made a gas discovery at the Yen Tu field off Vietnam's north coast.
The gas block, called Thai Binh and located 70 km off the port city of Hai Phong, and is expected to be put into commercial production by 2009.
ATIP plans to build a pipeline with state-run oil group PetroVietnam to deliver the gas from the field to power plants in northern Vietnam.
Earlier this year, ATIP officials unveiled that the company would list Nevada-based ATI Petroleum on the Vietnam stock exchange to raise funds for more projects in Vietnam, but declined to provide further details.
It had concluded negotiations and signed product-sharing contracts for two blocks in Guinea-Bissau and Cambodia respectively, one in the Ivory Coast, and four uranium mines in Niger.


According to the EFI, ATIP holds assets valued at US$380 million.
Compiled by Dong Ha

Sorry guy's..didn't know where else to put this!!!
Has anyone else heard that the dong will reval tomorrow?I was told that today....pure hearsay....don't know the source...and don't know if there is any truth to it at all!Thought i would ask if anyone else has heard this also!!
Thanks,
Sarah!!