Vietnam needs to take concerted measures to ensure national energy security, experts said at a conference on the role of the oil and gas sector in ensuring energy security held in Hanoi on July 18.

An oil platform at Bach Ho oil field in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province

According to the Vietnam Petroleum Institute (VPI), the country’s energy demand will grow by 5.1 percent a year in the 2016-2025 period and 4.2 percent for 2026-2035.

Deputy head of the VPI Nguyen Hong Minh and Chairman of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group’s Member Council Tran Sy Thanh stressed the need for a clear financial mechanism for oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities.

Along with measures to boost energy saving, increasing national reserves is extremely important, participants in the conference emphasised.

It is also necessary to step up the exploration of energy sources, improve domestic production of secondary energies, expand the use of alternative and renewable energies, and build a regional energy security cooperation mechanism, they stated.

Former Trade Minister Truong Dinh Tuyen affirmed that energy security has huge impact on food and finance security.

Therefore, the Petroleum Law should be revised as soon as possible to facilitate the development of the sector, he suggested.

Participants also scrutinized the need to ensure the national energy security on the basis of studying chances and challenges of the oil and gas sector in Vietnam, and proposed solutions for the work in the time to come, especially in the current trend of developing renewable energy.