Vietnam not to invest in small oil refineries

The State-owned Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) President on January 5 announced a decision not to invest in oil refineries with an annual capacity of 6.5 million tonnes or less.

Dinh La Thang said the decision was drawn from a lesson learned regarding the nation’s first oil refinery Dung Quat in the central province of Quang Ngai.

As a result, the two oil refinery projects, Nghi Son in the central province of Thanh Hoa and Long Son in the southern oil-rich province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, will have an annual capacity of 10 million tonnes each, he added.

The Nghi Son project is likely to launch construction bidding and signing of the engineering, procurement and construction contract in 2010.

In regards to the Long Son project, PetroVietnam is negotiating with foreign contractors, including Malaysia and the Republic of Korea, on conditions to set up joint-ventures. Despite some disagreements, PetroVietnam expect to sign agreements within this year.

PetroVietnam is also working with a design contractor to increase the Dung Quat refinery’s annual capacity to 10 million tonnes of product from the current 6.5 million tonnes.

The nation’s leading oil and gas group has also worked out a number of targets for 2010, which include the extraction of 15 million tonnes of crude oil and 8 million tonnes of gas.

Other major targets are the production of 740,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser, 10.5 billion kWh of electricity, 4.9 million tonnes of assorted fuels and gas, 651,000 tonnes of LPG and exportation of 9.43 million tonnes of crude oil.

The targets were announced by the group at an online meeting between Hanoi, Quang Ngai province, Can Tho city and Ho Chi Minh City on January 5.

VietNamNet/VNA

Tags: Vietnam Petroleum