PTT considers building oil refinery in Vietnam

Thailand’s PTT PLC is considering building a refinery with a capacity of 660,000 barrels a day–which would make it one of the largest in the world–in the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in coastal Binh Dinh province at an estimated cost of US$28.7 billion, according to a provincial government statement.
The move comes amid a refining boom in the Asia-Pacific region, where surging demand for oil products is expected to be the main driver of growth in global oil consumption in coming years.
Sukrit Surabotsopon, PTT’s senior executive vice president for petrochemical and refining, has presented a pre-feasibility study to provincial authorities, the Vietnamese statement said.
Construction would likely begin in 2016 and the refinery would become operational in 2019, Le Huu Loc, chairman of Binh Dinh province’s People’s Committee, told Dow Jones Newswires.
PTT has demonstrated that it is “very willing” to undertake the project, “so we are confident that it will be able” to carry it out, Loc said.
Nattachat Charuchinda, chief operating officer of PTT’s downstream petroleum business group, confirmed that PTT had presented a pre-feasibility study to Vietnamese provincial officials. He declined to confirm the estimated cost of the project, but indicated that the proposed capacity stated by the Vietnamese provincial government was accurate. Crude oil would be sourced from the Middle East, he said.
Nattachat said the project would also include an aromatics plant, with the output likely to be shipped to nearby China. “The potential in Vietnam is huge,” he said, noting that the country currently only has one oil refinery.