Vietnam to Discuss Oil Refinery with Hong Kong Investors
Vietnam’s central province of Binh Dinh will discuss with the Hong Kong Association of International Investors the construction of a US$1.5 billion oil refinery in Nhon Hoi Economic Zone.
Vu Hoang Ha, chairman of the province’s People’s Committee, said negotiations would be held in Hong Kong on January 10, initially for a feasibility study.
The construction of the refinery is slated to begin early in June on a 500-ha site in the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone. It is designed to have a capacity of five million tons a year.
Binh Dinh is the second province after Phu Yen to discuss an oil refinery project with foreign investors.
If the projects are approved, Vietnam will have four oil refineries in total.
State oil and gas monopoly PetroVietnam plans to build the other two oil refineries, Dung Quat Oil Refinery in central Quang Ngai province and Nghi Son Oil Refinery in northern-central Thanh Hoa province. Construction began on the Dung Quat refinery last November.
Vietnam, Southeast Asia's third largest oil producer, earned US$7.4 billion from exporting its crude oil in 2005, up 30.3 per cent on year.
However, with no operational oil refineries, the country has to import all refined oil products. It spent US$5 billion on importing 11.3 million tons of refined oil products in 2005.
Thanh Nien Online, Vnexpress
Vietnamese
