Vietinbank to lend US$1 billion to develop Nghi Son oil refinery

Pham Huy Hung, chairman of Vietinbank, said in a recent interview that the bank will be lending the state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) US$1 billion to develop the Nghi Son oil refinery. The refinery has a capacity of 10 million tons of crude oil. When it is fully operational by 2014, the plant will produce 2.3 million tons of gasoline, 3.7 million tons of diesel fuel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and other oil products per year. Vietnam has only one oil refinery in the province of Quang Ngai, in Dung Quat. PetroVietnam is looking for investors to provide capital to expand the processing capacity of the Dung Quat refinery to 10 million tons of crude oil by the year 2016. Vietnam has plans to construct five to six additional oil refineries by 2015. (April 14, 2011)