Petrolimex gets approval from Khanh Hoa province for refinery

Vietnam National Petroleum Corp. (Petrolimex), the largest Vietnamese state-owned petroleum trading company has recently received approval from central Khanh Hoa province to build a US$4.5-billion oil refinery in the locality, said CEO Vu Ngoc Hai. The plant will have a capacity of refining 10 million tons per year (tpy) of crude oil, said Hai. Petrolimex has chosen China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) as its partner in the joint venture to carry out the project and both companies have discussed the stake equity to be owned by each party. They intend to import crude oil from the Middle East or Singapore to supply the plant. Petrolimex now holds 60% of Vietnam’s petroleum trading market share. The corporation is cooperating with PB Tankers Ltd. of Singapore and Petrolimex Insurance Joint Stock Company to build Vietnam’s first petroleum bonded warehouse in central Khanh Hoa province with a storage capacity of one million cubic meters and a total investment of US$170 million. (July 21, 2008)