The Petroleum Law needs to put national interests and sovereignty over seas and islands first.

The draft Law on Petroleum (amended) consists of 11 chapters and 69 articles. This is a draft Law regulating the content of basic investigations on petroleum and activities with specific characteristics in terms of technical expertise, technology, risk level, investment scale, international nature, and related to resources, national defense, security, and national sovereignty over seas and islands.

View of the conference to collect comments on the draft Law on Petroleum (amended). Photo: My Nga

At the conference, delegates assessed that the content of the draft Law has ensured the objectives, viewpoints, orientations, and major policies set out in the development of the Law project on: establishing a legal corridor for basic investigation of oil and gas and oil and gas activities; having mechanisms and policies to attract investment resources from economic sectors and domestic and foreign financial institutions.

The delegates' opinions focused on a number of issues such as: the structure of the draft Law; additional explanations of terms for specialized terms in the draft Law; separate explanations of the words "oil" and "gas", clarifying the difference between "oil and gas", "oil" and "gas" to avoid confusion while still meeting the connotation of the concept. Regulations on contractor selection must be implemented in accordance with the principles of the Law on Bidding.

A representative of the provincial police said that it is necessary to clearly define national territorial sovereignty in the Petroleum Law. Photo: My Nga

Regarding the content of prohibited acts, it is proposed to replace the phrase "affecting national defense and security" with "violating national territorial sovereignty", because this is very important content. Opinions say that national sovereignty should not be traded for exploitation and economic activities.

In addition, oil and gas exploitation mainly takes place in the East Sea within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and sovereignty. Activities at sea are closely related and impact security and defense. However, the draft Law on Petroleum has not mentioned much about the authority, role, and responsibility of the Ministry of National Defense, the coordination and assistance of the Ministry of National Defense, and the Coast Guard. Therefore, the delegates' opinions suggest that the drafting agency study and mention this so that the Law on Petroleum can be more complete.

Delegates also said that the Law on Petroleum should include provisions to encourage the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions during the exploitation and production process; there should be regulations on the economical use and exploitation of petroleum because this is a limited resource; the draft law should include inspection and examination content.

Comrade Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation chaired the conference. Photo: My Nga

Concluding the conference, comrade Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation acknowledged the positive contributions of the delegates, because this is a difficult bill with high expertise.

Based on the opinions of the delegates, the Provincial National Assembly Delegation will receive and submit to the competent agencies of the National Assembly to review, study, receive and complete the draft Law on Petroleum (amended) before submitting to the National Assembly.