TNK-BP decides not to buy stake in Vietnam refinery; closes Lisichansk oil refinery in Ukraine

TNK-BP announced that it has decided against purchasing a stake in Vietnam’s Dung Quat oil refinery from state-owned oil and gas firm PetroVietnam. “As for the refinery, we have not found this proposal to be interesting for us,” said Maksim Barsky, Deputy CEO of Russian British joint venture TNK-BP. BP owns 50% of TNK-BP. BP has already indicated that the company will sell its assets in Vietnam to raise money to address the costs of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In October 2010, BP agreed to sells its Vietnam assets to TNK-BP. TNK-BP also announced that it will close the Lisichansk oil refinery in Ukraine due to unfavorable market conditions and a high debt of close to US$59 million in the first nine months of 2010, which is expected to increase to US$150 million in 2011. Ukranian refineries have faced stiff competition from oil product imports from Belarus and Kazakhstan which supply local markets with cheaper fuels made from less expensive foreign crude. (March 1, 2011)