Vietnam's planned Vung Ro refinery gets local go-ahead to double capacity

The Peoples Council of Phu Yen Province in central Vietnam said on August 1 that it had approved a proposal to double the capacity of the planned Vung Ro refinery to 8 million metric tons per year (mty), or 160,658 barrels per day (bpd).
The refinery is being developed by Vung Ro Petroleum, a joint venture between U.K.-based Technostar Management and Russia’s Telloil Group, and will be the country’s first 100% foreign-owned refinery. The JV was licensed in 2007, but construction has been delayed by site clearance issues.
Phu Yen Peoples’ Committee Chairman Pham Dinh Cu ordered regional authorities to step up site clearance efforts so construction could start.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved in principle the refinery’s capacity expansion in February.
The head of Phu Yen’s planning and investment department, Nguyen Chi Hien, told a council meeting that construction was expected to begin on Sept. and take 48 months.
The JV has completed the basic design for the project, done by a U.S. company. The refinery will be designed to use crude oil from various sources, including Arab light and heavy, a mix of the two, and Russian export blend REBCO.
According to a 2020-2025 development plan released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in May 2011, the Vietnamese government aims to have a total refining capacity of 60 million mty or 1.2 million bpd, by 2025.
Vietnam’s sole 6.5 million mty refinery at Dung Quat is currently supplying 30% of domestic demand, with the remainder coming from imports.
State-owned PetroVietnam and other investors in a 10 million mty refinery and petrochemical complex at Nghi Son plan to start construction in September or October 2013. PetroVietnam is also planning to build a 10 million mty refining and petrochemical project at Long Son in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
Thailand’s state-run PTT is also expected to complete a feasibility study for a proposed 660,000 bpd or 36 million mty refinery project in Vietnam’s Binh Dinh central province in early 2014.
(August 1, 2013)