5:25:18 PM | 24/10/2007
The Vietnamese government said October 23 that it has allowed Technostar Manangement Ltd of the U.K. and Telloil oil company of Russia to build an oil refinery in central Phu Yen province.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the investment plan of the Vung Ro oil refinery project while demanding environmental impact study and approval by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
A joint venture needs to be set up to carry out the project, pursuant to Vietnam’s laws, Dung requested.
According to local sources, the project will cost around US$500 million and will be capable of processing three million tons of crude oil a year.
The 50-hectare plant will be located in Hoa Tam commune, Tuy Hoa district, near the Vung Ro port, and will use local and foreign crude oil as material input.
The investors will be not allowed to distribute the plant’s products in Vietnam but sell to local companies, a provincial official said.
Technostar and Telloil chose Phu Yen the location for their oil refinery investment due to the provincial favorable geological position. The Vung Ro port is deep-water and convenient for big oil tankers. Investors have found easy to build oil pipelines linking from the port to the central highlands region, southern Laos and northeastern Cambodia.
In early September, Singapore’s SP Chemicals announced its plan to invest US$11 billion in a petrochemical industrial complex in central Vietnam.
Vietnam now has no oil refinery. The first Dung Quat valued at US$2.5 billion is under construction and due for operation in February 2009, and is expected to process 6.5 million tons of crude oil a year and refining 33 per cent of the country’s entire demand for petrol and oil. (Government Website)
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