PetroVietnam earns over $16 bln in 2008

HANOI, Dec. 31 (Chinese media) -- The Vietnam National Oil

and Gas Group, PetroVietnam, earned a total revenue of about 16.5 billion U.S.

dollars in 2008, an increase of 31.2 percent over that of 2007, the local

newspaper New Hanoi reported Wednesday.

Of its revenue, PetroVietnam

fetched about 0.66 million U.S. dollars from crude oil export turnover, an

increase of 26.7 percent over the year 2007, making up over 18 percent of the

country's total export turnover.

PetroVietnam has contributed about 7.1 billion U.S.

dollars to the state budget, a 41.7 percent increase over the 2007's figure,

accounting for over 31 percent of the total state budget revenue.

In 2008, PetroVietnam has discovered five more new

oil wells and successfully put them into operation, said the

newspaper.