Vietnam to start Building First Oil Refinery Next Month
The French group Technip is to inaugurate the construction Dzung Quat, Vietnam’s first oil refinery in central Quang Ngai province on November 21-25, an Asia Pacific representative of the group said.
The preparation for the construction had been carried out smoothly, Gerard de la Rosa, an official of Technip Asia Pacific told leaders of Quang Ngai, 850km (530 miles) south of Hanoi, during a meeting last Saturday.
The Dzung Quat plant included the refinery, a seaport, storage facilities and pipelines.
It is designed to have an annual processing capacity of 6.5 million tons of crude oil, or 130,000 barrels per day.
Technip led an international consortium, also including Japanese JGC Corporation and Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas, to sign a US$1.5 billion contract with Vietnamese state owned oil and gas giant Petro Vietnam last May. The deal is so far the biggest investment in the country.
The deal is seen as crucial to giving Vietnam more energy autonomy as, despite being a major crude producer, the nation has to import refined products.
Recently, the National Assembly of Vietnam approved a resolution on speeding up the construction of the refinery so that it would become operational in late 2008 or early 2009.
Vietnam exported nearly 13.3 million tons of crude oil valued at some 5.5 billion US dollars in the first nine months of this year, down 9.3 percent in volume but up 32.7 percent in value against the same period last year.
Meanwhile, it imported over 8.9 million tons of petroleum products worth roughly 3.8 billion US dollars, posting respective rises of 8.2 percent and 47.8 percent.
(Reported by Thai Anh – Translated by The Vinh)
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 17 October, 2005, 12:57:37 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News
