VEPR-Oil research Oil and gas is an important industry in Vietnam, contributing significantly to the state budget and making an important contribution to the annual GDP growth. Before 2015, the oil and gas industry contributed an average of 20-25% of the total budget revenue, 18-25% of the national GDP. From 2015 to the present, together with the general development trend and the process of economic restructuring, the contribution of the oil and gas industry is decreasing but still accounts for a significant proportion, equivalent to 10-13% of GDP and 9- 11% of total state budget revenue. Besides, the oil and gas industry plays a strategic role in national energy security as well as Vietnam's maritime strategy.
Because of the importance of the oil and gas industry, in May 2015, the Ministry of Politics issued Resolution 41-NQ/TW on "Strategy for development of Vietnam's oil and gas industry to 2025 and vision to 2035". Resolution 41 specifies the need to implement such as: Studying amendments and supplements to legal documents on oil and gas, which clearly regulates oil and gas activities,  planning appropriate strategies, and plans to boost Vietnam's petroleum industry, clearly defining the state management function on petroleum; creating favorable business conditions for enterprises of all economic sectors in the field of petroleum, at the same time, formulating mechanisms and policies to increase the attraction of resources from economic sectors, domestic and foreign financial institutions to develop the petroleum industry, formulating specific mechanisms and policies to attract foreign investment in domestic petroleum development in deep-water, offshore areas and sensitive areas.
However, to achieve the vision, the oil and gas industry encounters many challenges in terms of mechanism as well as disputes in oil and gas exploitation. The mechanism to attract foreign investment into prospecting and exploration to increase reserves has been no longer suitable andhas not been amended. The first Petroleum Law was promulgated in 1993, starting the development of the oil and gas industry, although it was amended in 2000, 2008 and 2018 but it was not evaluated after 25 years of implementation to change issues that are relevant, those that are irrelevant, and hold back the development of oil and gas industry / activities. In recent years, Vietnam has also encountered some disadvantages in negotiations related to the oil and gas industry, such as the Spanish petroleum group called Repsol, which was asked to stop exploitation at the site Cai Rong Do by the Vietnamese government, this area belonging to Block 136-06 was under  a dispute with China. According to estimation, this incident caused Repsol Group lost about 200 million dollars . Accordingto Reuter, Repsol Group is currently negotiating with the Vietnamese government for compensation for the suspension of this mining project. Another case of dispute, ConocoPhillips has sued the Vietnamese government in international courts through a secret trial aimed at preventing theVietnamese government from collecting a $179 million tax on the deal of selling its 02 subsidiaries in Vietnamto Perenco Group in 2012.
On the other hand, according to international practices such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), minerals in general and oil and gas in particular are important national resources. Therefore, governments need to ensure transparency in the management and use of these resources. The application of the EITI standard requires governments and companies to disclose information on contract signing, revenue from mining as well as the use of these revenues. This transparency process will help improve the efficiency of management and use of resources, contributing to the increase of state budget revenues.Currently, 52 countries around the world have joined the EITI standard.
With the above context, the Vietnam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) proposes to conduct a study of transparency in the process of negotiating, signing and implementing petroleum exploitation contracts in Vietnam. This research will aim at a more effective, sustainable policy system to promote the efficiency of the oil and gas industry and to effectively utilize this valuable resource in Vietnam. The results of thestudy will be the evidence and professional basis for policy advocacy activities.
In order to achieve project#s objective, following tasks will be conducted:
1. Reviewing the current system of legal documents related to oil and gas exploitation and cooperation activities, policies and legaldocuments related to the allocation of financial resources from oil and gas exploitation among stakeholders.
2. Review the development of these contracts and their actual implementation, based on information that thepublic can access.
3. Reach out to a number of experts or managers in the industry to learn about the process and how to publish information during the negotiation process of oil and gas contracts.Compare the current de factor process with the de jureprocess. At the same time, compare in an international context.
4. Analyse and draw out meanings in policy
Details on methodology, research questions, research framework and research tools will be determined after literature review process