INDUSTRY AND TRADE MAGAZINE – Whenever we get in touch with Petrolimex staff, we do see an utter dedication to work. This spirit is true not only at Petrolimex subsidiaries which concentrate the majority of laborers but also at the Group’s high-ranking leadership.

Petrolimex Deputy General Director Vuong Thai Dung grants local reporters an interview

Industry and Trade magazine has the honor of introducing to readers the businessman Vuong Thai Dung – a member of Petrolimex Party Standing Committee, a member of Petrolimex Board of Management, and Deputy General Director of the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex).

Vuong Thai Dung is the Petrolimex Deputy General Director in charge of technical and internal affairs. The internal affairs keep him as busy as a bee because of a plenty of work to do whereas with the technical affairs the Group is intensifying investment both intensively and extensively.

Therefore, the technical matters also have plenty of work as the internal ones. The technical affairs cover a wide range of investment into basic construction, development, science and technology, fire safety, fire fighting and prevention, environmental safety, and thrift practice in storing and transporting petrol, among others. Vuong Thai Dung also acts as head of the Group’s Science and Technique Council.

Vuong Thai Dung is always concerned about matters which arise in the daily life. He not only calls upon employees to work. He himself is the head of one valuable initiative and one practical solution, yielding huge benefit for the enterprise.

Head of the valuable initiative:Anti-static grounding system using permanent magnet

The initiative “Designing, and manufacturing anti-static grounding devices in the form of permanent magnet for means of transport installed at Petrolimex loading stations and petrol stations” leaded by Vuong Thai Dung (Reporter: Vuong Thai Dung is the mastermind of both the initiative and the completion process) has been applied in Petrolimex subsidiaries in the south and central region and is expected to be operational in the whole country by May 30, 2015.

Prominent features of the initiative is that devices are locally-made, replacing the imported ones and forming a standard process of safety for the loading and unloading of petrol by means of transport at loading stations and petrol stations.
The initial value brought about by the initiative is VND93 billion (US$4.3 million) as compared to imported devices. The value is just calculated upon the number of 3,000 sets of devices installed for Petrolimex’s 2,300 petrol stations and loading stations.

One of the features of petrol products is that they form and agglomerate electrostatics during the process of loading petrol from loading stations into means of transport and unloading petrol from means of transport into containers at petrol stations. These sources of electrostatics are likely to discharge power, creating explosion and unsafety for people and property.

Before Vuong Thai Dung’s initiative was born, in order to “dissolve electrostatics”, Petrolimex staff had to create tools stuck to means of transport or buy imported devices. In short, there was a lack of standards of equipment and process; each unit used different anti-static models or did not use the devices adequately. As a result, the devices failed to discharge electricity completely and explosions were still likely to happen.

The new solution resolves all weaknesses mentioned above. In addition, the devices are locally manufactured so they are handy and cost only VND5,000,000 (US$230)/set – three times cheaper than an imported set of similar quality.

Head of the practical solution:Fixed, semi-automatic fire fighting system at petrol stations

With the approval from the Ministry of Public Security’s Fire Fighting and Prevention and Rescue Department for the solution to be put into practice, Petrolimex is experimenting with the solution at the Group’s petrol stations in Ho Chi Minh City and Ha Noi.

The practical solution opens a completely new and dominant direction in fire fighting and prevention. The solution enables petrol stations to early detect signs of fire and takes the initiative to fight fire. This is of overriding importance to petrol stations located in areas of high demand or nearby residential areas in the central of provinces and cities, especially in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The solution will integrate synchronously with a new model of petrol stations where customers will self-serve, self-pump petrol into their vehicles.

Once the solution is put into practice, it will ensure safety for customers, petrol station workers, and other properties at the petrol stations (money, goods, material facilities, equipment and technology, etc), thus, ensuring production safety, social order and security, and environmental protection.

It is hard to calculate the value of the solution, but it is apparent that the solution is necessitated, said Vuong Thai Dung.

“In addition to the application of an oil and gas management software (Egas) integrating with the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) at state-of-the-art petrol stations, Petrolimex is a pioneer in applying this solution to increase the efficiency of enterprise management solution and contributes to making the petrol trading much more transparent,” said Vuong Thai Dung.

With a capacity of 1.8 million cubic meters of petrol depots, each year Petrolimex imports between 9-10 million cubic meters/tones of various types of petrol for manufacturing and business activities, and for export to Laos and Cambodia.

Petrolimex business spreads out across the country, from urban economic hubs to remote and underprivileged areas which only witness the presence of Petrolimex rather than any other businesses.

In regard to petrol transportation, Petrolimex employs all forms of transportation from road, rail, main, waterway transport to sea and coastal route and ocean shipping.

To ensure oil and gas safety with such scope and transport routes, Petrolimex spends between 6.5-7 per cent of the total investment capital on fire fighting and prevention and environmental protection, specifically: purchasing fire fighting technologies and materials, fence booms to prevent oil overflow, and towing heads for fence booms; applying anti-corrosion pipe coatings, and heat-resistant coating systems; installing buoy roofs for vertical storage tanks to prevent natural evaporation of petrol; treating waste water with bio-technology; enhancing training activities; and applying automatic and semi-automatic science and technology in order to ensure safety for the production and business activities, and to increase labor productivity as well as thrift practice (especially to mitigate losses due to natural evaporation) with the aim to improve the enterprise’s efficiency.

Under Japanese assistance, Petrolimex has successfully manufactured and experimented SF twin lawyer oil tanks using Japanese technology. The project is expected to be applied for petrol stations nation-wide in accordance with new technical standards, raising coefficients of safety to the highest possible level.

Although Petrolimex always practises safety on its own initiatives, the Group also focuses on co-ordinating with professional bodies from the Central to local levels, including: The National Fire Fighting and Prevention, and Rescue Department and localities’ fire fighting and prevention, and rescue departments, and National Committee for Search and Rescue to intensify its own safety and to utilize its equipment and resources to join other forces to participate in fire fighting for other enterprises and for the society.

“As an enterprise with nearly 60 years of experience in the field of oil and gas, Petrolimex builds up itself with much experience of petrol safety. However, only experience will not be enough. To ensure safety, it is essential to have advanced facilities, science and technologies. And investment for petrol safety is a necessary activity for the enterprise itself as well as for the whole society. Safety is the first and foremost important factor before speaking of any other works, especially business performance efficiency,” said Vuong Thai Dung.

At work, Vuong Thai Dung always attaches much importance to people. He loves to sing “The Song of Construction”. He always inspires employees to work enthusiastically. As a result, quite a few useful initiatives and solutions which were born, checked, applied and produced practical effects stem from the passion for the career and responsibility towards the enterprise among subsidiaries on the occasion of production and labor emulation campaigns to celebrate national holidays in 2015, Petrolimex conference of outstanding models, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (January 12, 1956 – January 1, 2016).

Vuong Thai Dung always sets a good example in fulfilling duties

In whatever positions, Vuong Thai Dung always excellently fulfills duties assigned among Petrolimex Board of Management members.

I call him “An all-round person” because he was quite close, open, frank and friendly to journalists when he was still Petrolimex spokesperson.

Now, he is shouldering two tasks of internal and technical affairs at the same time, he does both well. In addition, he still takes an active part in social charity and social welfare activities. For instance, the Government’s Program 30A (the program for rapid and sustainable poverty reduction in the 62 poorest districts in Vietnam) in Dong Van District has been highly evaluated by Party Committees, leadership of all levels, and the ethnic groups in Ha Giang Province because of its practicality, sustainability, and efficiency. Vuong Thai Dung was pleased to be a positive “link” in realizing a big program of the Party and State in a beautiful but underprivileged land.

It is my pleasure to write about Vuong Thai Dung. I even thanked my Editor-in-Chief for having assigned me with the coverage of oil and gas area.

The assignments give me opportunities to go to many places, attending many events, and talking with Petrolimex laborers. At Petrolimex, whoever I talked to I find a simple but enthusiastic person – the enthusiasm and optimism of Petrolimex soldiers. And they are always proud of their manners which are still full of go as they are about to celebrate the 60th year of Petrolimex.

I would like to end this article by extracting a sentence in one of my previous articles “Soldier’s manners and professionalism”: “It turns out that the petrol business is not simply the act of pouring in, scooping out and getting customers’ money as some people ever told media. For each liter of petrol to reach customers safely, it costs a lot of effort.”

Yes, it is true that for each liter of petrol to reach customers safely, it costs a lot of effort of a plenty of people including Vuong Thai Dung who is a typical face among the Group’s 27,000 staff who are forgetting themselves in work across the country.

Petrolimex Deputy General Director Vuong Thai Dung poses for a photo with students of the Van Kieu ethnic minority group at the Huong Viet Commune’s Primary and Junior Secondary School in Huong Hoa District, Quang Tri Province on November 25, 2014. On this occasion, Petrolimex presents a computer room with 15 Internet-connected computers for the school.

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