Vung Ro construction to be delayed

Construction of Vung Ro, Vietnam’s fourth oil refinery, will be delayed to early 2009 instead of the end of 2008 as scheduled due to sluggish site clearance, said Pham Ngoc Chi, chairman of Phu Yen People’s Committee. The province has not yet completed construction of the Phu Lac and Hoa Tam resettlement areas which will house 5,100 locally displaced households. The project, financed by Technostar Management Ltd. of the U.K. and Telloil Oil Company of Russia, is the first wholly foreign-owned oil refinery to be built in Vietnam. The refinery is expected to produce four million tons per year of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), benzene, gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel for reactive power and sulfur once fully operational. (December 8, 2008)