Orient Biofuels starts construction of ethanol plant

Orient Biofuels JSC has started building an US$80 million ethanol plant in southern Vietnam, state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group or PetroVietnam, said. The plant, which is being built in Binh Phuoc province, will have a capacity of 100 million liters of ethanol a year, PetroVietnam said in a statement. The plant is scheduled to be completed within 21 months, it said. Orient Biofuels is 49% owned by Japan’s Itochu Corp., 22% by Licogi 16 Construction Co. and 29% by PV Oil, a unit of PetroVietnam. India’s Praj Industries Ltd. has won the contract to supply technology for the plant’s construction, PetroVietnam said, without providing further details on the contract. It said Thailand’s Toyo-Thai Corp. PLC and Vietnam’s PV Engineering have won the contract to build the plant. (March 22, 2010)