Hanoi: Vietnam has signed a deal with companies from Japan and Kuwait to build a giant oil refinery complex in the centre of the country worth nearly $9bn.
The Nghi Son refinery, due to open in 2017 in Thanh Hoa Province, about 200km south of Hanoi, will turn Kuwaiti oil into gasoline and other petroleum products, capable of processing 10m tonnes of crude oil a year.
State-owned PetroVietnam will own a 25.1% stake in the joint venture, while Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan Co and Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd will each hold 35.1%. Mitsui Chemicals Inc of Japan will own the remaining 4.7 percent.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung hailed the project as “very important” for the country’s economic and social development.
The Nghi Son refinery will be Vietnam’s second. The country’s first refinery opened in 2009 in Dung Quat and has a capacity of 6.5m tonnes of crude a year.
PetroVietnam believes the two refineries will account for 65% of the nation’s oil and gas needs. A third refinery project in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province is also on the cards. [29/01/13]
