Oil and gas sector sees renewed momentum

Oil and gas sector sees renewed momentum

Robust profit growth across the value chain, accelerating major projects and supportive policies are driving a strong rally in oil and gas stocks, with expectations of further upside in 2026.

Financial results for 2025 show broad-based improvement across the oil and gas value chain, from upstream and midstream to downstream. Unlike previous years, when performance within the sector was often sharply polarised, last year recorded a more clearly widespread recovery.

In the upstream segment, PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation stood out with strong growth.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company posted net revenue of $172.5 million, up 54.7 per cent on-year, while after-tax profit reached $15 million, an increase of 61.2 per cent.

For the full year, net revenue amounted to $435.7 million, up 17.3 per cent, and after-tax profit reached $42 million, up 50.5 per cent.

According to the company, growth was driven mainly by a higher number and improved day rates of its owned jack-up rigs in operation, averaging 4.8 rigs in Q4, along with positive contributions from leased rigs, drilling services, profit sharing from joint ventures and subsidiaries, and contractor tax refunds in Malaysia.

Regarding oil services, PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation also reported a strong breakout in Q4 of 2025, with after-tax profit reaching $32.2 million, up 84 per cent on-year.

For the full year, the company’s net revenue exceeded $1.3 billion, up 37 per cent, while after-tax profit came in at nearly $76 million, up 51 per cent from 2024, thanks to a sharp increase in workload in key segments such as engineering, procurement, and construction and oil and gas technical services.

Meanwhile, PetroVietnam Coating Corporation recorded a clear turnaround, swinging from a loss of $0.23 million in Q4 of 2024 to a profit of more than $0.4 million in Q4 of 2025. This lifted full-year profit to nearly $2.5 million, 4.3 times higher than the previous year.

In the midstream segment, Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical JSC (BSR) also posted positive growth. In Q4 of 2025, BSR recorded net revenue of more than $1.5 billion, up 5 per cent on-year, while after-tax profit reached $121.4 million, a sharp improvement from a loss of $3.4 million in the same period of 2024 and the highest level in the past nine quarters.

The company attributed the profit surge to a significant improvement in crack spreads and higher sales volume, which rose to 2.1 million tonnes.

The fourth quarter alone contributed more than half of full-year profit, bringing net profit for 2025 to nearly $208 million, 91.5 per cent above target.

For PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV GAS) Q4 was less positive, with after-tax profit falling 33 per cent to $55.5 million due to higher provisioning for doubtful receivables and additional allocations to the sci-tech development fund.

However, thanks to strong performance in earlier quarters, it still delivered solid results for the full year, with net revenue reaching a record $5.4 billion, up 30 per cent, while after-tax profit exceeded $462.8 million, up 10 per cent.

In the downstream segment, Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) recorded fourth-quarter 2025 net revenue of $3.28 billion and after-tax profit of $27.9 million, both up 15 per cent on-year.

For the full year, Petrolimex set a new revenue record of nearly $12.4 billion, up 10 per cent. However, rising costs led to a 7 per cent decline in after-tax profit to $121.5 million.

In the same fuel distribution segment, PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PVOIL) reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue growth of 67 per cent to more than $1.9 billion, helping after-tax profit reach $4.6 million, up 25 per cent on-year.

For the full year 2025, PVOIL posted revenue of $6.16 billion, up 24 per cent, while after-tax profit reached $19.5 million, up 3 per cent.

Overall, 2025 results suggest that the oil and gas industry is entering a more favourable phase, with broad-based improvement across segments, reflecting both cyclical factors and a markedly strengthened operational foundation at many companies compared with previous years.

Since mid-January, oil and gas stocks have formed a major rally, widely regarded as the strongest and longest-lasting since 2014.

According to Le Van Long, director of Investment Advisory at VPS Securities Company, oil and gas stocks are being supported by Resolution No.70-NQ/TW on ensuring national energy security.

“This resolution emphasises the role of the energy sector as a whole, in which oil and gas are among the biggest beneficiaries. With a guiding resolution from the government, the oil and gas group will assumingly benefit and receive strong support in the upcoming period,” Long said.

Alongside policy support, the rally in oil and gas stocks is also being driven by positive structural changes within the industry.

The marked improvement in 2025 business results, coupled with accelerated implementation of major and key projects in 2026, is enabling upstream, midstream and downstream segments alike to benefit.

VIR