The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) produced 15 million tones of crude oil this year, 30 percent higher than production targets set earlier this year.

The group exceeded the target despite lower output from some oil fields, which was compensated by technical innovations, which raised the extraction ratio up to 52 percent.

In second half of the year, PetroVietnam has also begun tapping into two new oil fields and has increased oil production abroad.

Higher production has also helped the group realise its financial plan for the whole year, with total revenue of 672 trillion VND (32 billion USD ), of which 170 trillion VND (2.8 billion USD) went into the State budget.
These figures indicate the group's income will account for half of the country's total income.

In terms of payment to the State, the group will constitute around 70 percent of corporate and group contributions.

PetroVietnam General Director Do Van Hau said the Government had assigned the group to produce 15.8 million tons of oil and 9 billion cu.m of gas in 2012./.