PDVSA delegation in Vietnam for talks on Dung Quat refinery stake

A delegation from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is in Vietnam this week to discuss the details and conditions of its stated plan to buy a stake in PetroVietnam’s Dung Quat refinery

A delegation from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is in Vietnam this week to discuss the details and conditions of its stated plan to buy a stake in PetroVietnam’s Dung Quat refinery, a senior executive with refinery operator Binhson Refining & Petrochemical said Tuesday in Singapore.

PDVSA said in April that it had already taken a stake in the refinery, although it did not say of what size. PetroVietnam officials have yet to confirm that any deal has been done.

“A delegation from PDVSA is in Hanoi this week to have some discussion with PetroVietnam about the conditions [of any sale] and also how many percent they are going to buy,” said Binhson Refinery & Petrochemical Executive Vice President Dinh Van Ngoc, speaking on the sidelines of an industry event.

The Dung Quat refinery is still held 100% by PetroVietnam, Ngoc said, although “we are willing to share a stake of [up to] 49% with a partner.”

“Not only PDVSA, but other international partners are very interested in a joint venture with us on the existing refinery and the coming expansion,” Ngoc said.

In January, a PetroVietnam official said Japan’s JX Holdings and South Korea’s SK Energy were studying PetroVietnam’s proposed expansion programs at the Dung Quat refinery and were also considering taking stake in the facility.

The 6.5 million mt/year refinery, Vietnam’s first, went into commercial production last year and is running at 105% of capacity, according to Ngoc.

The Vietnamese government in April unveiled plans to expand the refinery to a capacity of around 10 million mt/year by late 2015 or early 2016.- Platts

Tags: Dung Quat oil refinery, PDVSA