Large-scale cooperation with Vietnam in oil-field exploration and development on the continental shelf in the South of the SRV began in 1981 after the two Parties signed an Intergovernmental Agreement on establishing the Joint Venture "Vietsovpetro". The JV participants are Zarubezhneft and General Petroleum and Gas Company of Vietnam "PetroVetnam". The shareholders own an equal amount of shares.

Today "Vietsovpetro" is a leader in the Vietnamese oil industry and in the top ten of most economically effective oil-producing companies in the world. The joint efforts of the Vietnamese and Russian specialists produce over 60% of Vietnamese oil and almost all of its gas.

Nowadays the "Vietsovpetro" JV works on terms of full self-financing, being one of the most important sources of currency flows for the Vietnamese budget.

President Putin's official visit to Vietnam in March 2001 became a strong impulse for the development of the Russian-Vietnamese cooperation. In the Declaration on Strategic Partnership, signed on March 1, 2001 in Hanoi, both Presidents appreciated the effectiveness of the "Vietsovpetro" JV as the base for increasing the scale of cooperation in oil and gas field by extending its activity to exploring new deposits of hydrocarbons in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The company started exploration of new perspective blocks with participation of third party countries. JSC Zarubezhneft, Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation Petrovietnam and Idemitsu (Japan) are developing block 09-3 offshore South Vietnam where commercial oil stock has been disovered. In this project Zarubezhneft holds 50% share. At the present time development of block 09-3 is a priority field of Zarubezhneft’s activities. The Company consolidates all its efforts and resources in this area.

The activities of JV “Vietsovpetro” under the Intergovernmental agreement dated 16th June 1991 are coming to an end in late 2010. However the parties came to a conclusion that the vast potential accumulated through years of joint work should be used in future to the benefit of both countries. In 2006 a Joint declaration of the Russian and Vietnamese Presidents was taken to continue cooperation after 2010. In October 2008 during the visit of the Vietnamese President to Russia an Inter Governmental Agreement was signed to transform JV “Vietsovpetro” into a limited liability company with two participants – JSC “Zarubezhneft” and Oil and Gas Corporation “Petrovietnam” with participant shares of 49% and 51% respectively.

Relying on long-term cooperation, Zarubezhneft and the General Petroleum and Gas Company of Vietnam "PetroVetnam" are actively developing new directions and forms of mutually beneficial cooperation in the oil-and-gas field.

In the Joint Declaration of the Presidents of the Russian Federation and Vietnam on further cooperation in geological exploration and production of oil and gas dated 20th November 2006 stresses the necessity to work through the matters of interaction of the two countries not only on the territory of Vietnam, but also on the territory of the Russian Federation and other countries. In order to ensure the participation of JSC “Zarubezhneft”, OGC “Petrovietnam” and JV “Vietsovpetro” is such projects, a joint company “RUSVIETPETRO” was established in summer 2008.

Consequentially, time-proved cooperation among JSC “Zarubezhneft” and Vietnamese oil and gas association entered a new mutually beneficial stage of development, which creates a solid base for the long term partnership.