OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2012. Vietnam's state oil and gas group, PetroVietnam, will pump oil from Uzbekistan as it moves to step up overseas exploitation activities.

"PetroVietnam has been effectively conducting exploration work and is preparing to exploit oil in Kossor," the PetroVietnam-run Nang Luong Moi newspaper said. It did not give a timeframe for oil production.

The Hanoi-based group's subsidiary PVEP has said it signed a contract to explore oil in Uzbekistan's Kossor block last year.

PetroVietnam plans to sign a contract with Uzbekistan's National Holding Company, Uzbekneftegaz, to explore the Bukhara and Khiva regions, the Nang Luong Moi report said.

As part of overseas oil production, PetroVietnam has been extracting oil from Malaysia's Block PM 304 and two fields in Russia's Nenetsky region.

PetroVietnam is targeting 2012 crude output to total 317,500 barrels per day, up 4% from 2011 mainly due to increasing overseas production.