Elf Gas buys out LPG retailer

Elf Gas Saigon, a joint venture between France’s Total and Saigon Construction Corporation, Tuesday announced its acquisition of Saigon Gas Holdings Corporation.

The acquisition would secure its position as one of the leading liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) retailers in Vietnam, Total said in a statement which did not mention the share the joint-venture has acquired. The world’s fourth-largest oil and gas company said in the statement that Elf Gas Saigon targets a 15 percent share of the country’s LPG market and would add an import terminal in Go Dau, Tay Ninh Province to its portfolio. “In the Asia Pacific, Vietnam is one of our key countries for development and this opportunity for growth fits well with our strategy in the region,” said Thierry Pflimlin, senior vice-president of Total Oil Asia-Pacific, in the statement. Total, which holds 86 percent in the joint venture, has been in Vietnam since the end of the 1970s, exploring and drilling in the south. according to the filing. Reported by Minh Quang