Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in September urged relevant bodies to quicken construction of major oil and gas projects to start operations on time, the Government said in its website.
The move follows stagnant construction of key projects, threatening national economic development goals.
The government has repeated its request to state oil monopoly PetroVietnam to adhere strictly to the construction timetable of the country’s first oil refinery scheduled to be completed in February 2009.
PetroVietnam has been asked to work with Technip Group, which leads a four-party construction consortium, to speed up construction work on Dung Quat refinery, located central Quang Ngai province.
Technip-led consortium won four main bids of Dung Quat refinery, including Bids 1+4 and 2+3 that are due for completion this year. Technip pledged to complete the construction within 44 months.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has been required to accomplish a decree to replace Decree No. 10/CP dated February 17, 1993 on safety for petroleum and gas works, to submit to the PM in October, to prepare for the operation of the refinery.
The Prime Minister also asked PetroVietnam and Ba Ria-Vung Tau province to work on the plan of Long Son oil refinery project. He wants to see the project plan in the third quarter this year as his earlier demand dated July 30.
He also told relevant contractors to speed up work for Thanh Hoa province-based Nghi Son petrochemical complex while asking Vietsovpetro and Lilama to step up the construction of Ca Mau gas-power-fertilizer complex in southernmost Ca Mau province.
Vietnam is Southeast Asia's third-largest crude oil producer with output averaging nearly 350,000 barrels per day. But it still imports most of its oil products in the absence of major refineries.
The country exported 11.2 million tons of crude oil valued US$5.78 billion in the first nine months this year, down 12.8 per cent in value and 10.4 per cent in volume. (Government Website)
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