Vietnam’s first oil refinery goes onstream

Vietnam’s first oil refinery, the US$2.5 billion Dung Quat oil refinery in the central coastal Quang Ngai Province, began operations on February 9. The 6.5 million metric ton refinery is expected to operate at full capacity by 2010. It will begin producing A90, A92, A95, petrol and jet fuel by April 2009, though it will initially process 3.5 million metric tons (MMT), or 70,000-75,000 barrels per day (bpd), of domestic light crude oil. According to PetroVietnam Oil Corp. Director General Nguyen Quoc Khanh, the refinery will switch to processing cheaper imported crude oil after 2011. At full capacity, the refinery can process 6.5 MMT of crude oil annually. (February 13/15, 2009)