Vietnam to Raise Capacity of First Oil Refinery to 10 Mln Tons/year

The state-owned oil monopoly PetroVietnam group has sought permission from the prime minister to cooperate with foreign partners to increase annual capacity of Dung Quat oil refinery to 10 million tons, the Dau Tu newspaper reported, citing the groups sources.

 

Dung Quat oil refinery, the first of its kind in Vietnam, was designed to have a total capacity of 6.5 million tons, the source said.

 

The move aims to improve production, trading and operation efficiency of the refinery meet increasing domestic demand for petroleum products and ensure the national energy security, PetroVietnam said.

 

It will also take full advantage of available modern infrastructure of the oil refinery in particular and Dung Quat economic zone in general, the group attributed.

 

PetroVietnam, however, has not yet specified the expansion schedule for Dung Quat oil refinery.

 

The US$2.5-billion oil refinery, with expected products of propylene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), lead-free petrol, diesel and fuel oil, is under construction in central Quang Ngai province, and is estimated refine 33 per cent of the country&rsquos entire demand for petrol and oil once fully operational in February 2009.

 

Without major refineries, Vietnam has to import almost all of petroleum products for domestic consumption. In the first six months, the country spent US$5.92 billion importing 6.81 million metric tons of petroleum products, up 68.9 per cent on year and 4.4 per cent, respectively, said the General Statistics Office (GSO). (Investment)