"The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) has said that petroleum projects in central Vietnam, including projects at sea and on land, are being carried out as planned by PVN, Petrovietnam Exploration Production Corporation (PVEP) and ExxonMobil," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said at a press meeting Thursday.

Hang was responding to a reporter’s inquiry regarding a rumor that ExxonMobil was withdrawing itself from the Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale) project, a natural gas field offshore Vietnam.

PVN, PVEP and ExxonMobil signed agreement frameworks for project development and selling gas from the Ca Voi Xanh gas field in 2017.

The gas field, about 88 km to the east of central Vietnam’s shores, is operated by ExxonMobil. The field is estimated to have a yield of about 150 billion cubic meters of gas, according to the Quang Ngai Province Investment Promotion Center.

Between 9-10 billion cubic meters of gas are extracted every year.

PVN has invested about $4.6 billion in the project and expects revenues of $30 billion from gas and another $30 billion from electricity.