PetroVietnam names new chairman

Tran Sy Thanh has been named by Vietnam’s Politburo, the Communist Party’s decision-making body, as the new chairman of the board of state-owned oil giant PetroVietnam (PVN). Unlike his predecessors, Thanh, 46, has no previous experience in the oil and gas industry. Thanh is a member of the Central Committee and chief of the Communist Party’s unit in Lang Son Province.

Thanh’s previous positions include chief of staff of the State Treasury, deputy director of the State Treasury, party chief of Bac Giang Province and vice chairman of the Central Inspection Commission.

The chairmanship of PetroVietnam has been vacant since the Communist Party transferred then-chairman Nguyen Quoc Khanh to the Ministry of Industry and Trade in March, without appointing a successor. Khanh has since been arrested as part of Vietnam’s sweeping corruption crackdown at PetroVietnam and the banking sector. More than 20 leaders and former leaders at PetroVietnam have been investigated. The biggest name so far is Dinh La Thang, who was also a former PetroVietnam board chairman, who was relieved from his post as party leader of Ho Chi Minh City in May.