$3 billion Dung Quat Refinery delays inauguration to Jan

The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) will postpone the official inauguration of its US$3 billion Dung Quat Oil Refinery by two weeks to January 6.

It had previously scheduled to launch the inauguration ceremony on Friday.

This was confirmed on Tuesday by Nguyen Hoai Giang, general director of the refinery, adding that he did not know the reason behind this.

The plant, which has been unofficially operating for two years now, has 6 technical errors, including 5 minority faults, Giang said but he added all will not affect its operation.

The plant has an annual capacity of 6.5 million tons of crude oil that is expected to meet one third of the country’s oil and gas consumption demand.

PetroVietnam earlier this month worked with Japanese JGC on the project to expand the plant to increase its capacity from 6.5 million to 10 million tons per year. The enlargement is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

After two years of unofficial operation, the plant has received 7.6 million tons of crude oil from Bach Ho Oilfield in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, and imported 400,000 tons of crude oil.

By December 2010, it has successfully refined 6.75 million of products, and sold over 6.66 million tons of oil and gas.

The plant’s turnover is estimated to reach VND53.8 trillion this year, paying VND10.43 trillion in tax.

It plans to reach a turnover of VND73 trillion next year.- Tuoi Tre

Tags: Dung Quat oil refinery