US firm mulls oil refinery plant project in Ca Mau
28-AUG-2008 Intellasia | Saigon Times Daily page 2
Aug 28, 2008 - 7:00:00 AM
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Pacific Development Group from the US, via a consulting company in the Mekong Delta City of Can Tho, has plans to build an oil refinery in the Mekong Delta's Ca Mau Province, the provincial Planning and Investment Department said on Monday.
The source said that the group, after conducting a study before, would visit the province next month to sign a memorandum of understanding for developing the project, which will be even bigger that the country's first oil refinery in Dung Quat in central Vietnam.
The investor wants to build the refinery in Nam Can District with a designed capacity of 10 million tonnes of crude oil per year, using crude imported from other countries. But the source said that it would take a long time to carry out the project now that the province itself has not yet had any plan for a refinery. "The province must first discuss and ask for approval from the government as well as relevant ministries," the source said.
If the project comes true, it will have the same designed capacity with that in Nghi Son refinery in Thanh Hoa Province, which is being developed by a consortium of international companies including PetroVietnam, Japan's Indemitsu Kosan and Mitsui Chemicals, and Kuwait Petroleum International.
Nghi Son oil refinery, the country's second one after Dung Quat refinery which is near completion in the central province of Quang Ngai, will cover 325 hectares in Tinh Gia District's Nghi Son Economic Zone, some 200 kilometres south of Hanoi.
The US$6.2 billion joint venture said that the complex will open the first stage by20 13. In addition to LPG, unleaded gasoline, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel and FO, the refinery will produce bitumen, propylene, and raw materials for the petrochemical industry.
The oil refinery and petrochemical complex will have an initial designed refining capacity of 10 million tonnes a year, which could eventually reach 20 million tonnes down the road. The project will refine 100% Kuwaiti crude oil supplied by Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation.
The first oil refinery of the country is being built by Technip-Coflexip of France, Japan's JGC Corp and Spain's Technicas Reunidas. The US$2.5 billion project will be able to refine 6.5 million tonnes of low-sulphur crude a year by the time it finishes in February 2009.
The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam, is reportedly seeking the prime minister's approval for scaling up the capacity of its Dung Quat oil refinery plant to 10 million tonnes.
The expansion is needed to ensure national energy security and to meet the increasing demands for fuel in the domestic market. The expansion will begin after the oil refinery is officially put into operation next February.
With crude from Bach Ho oil field, the refinery will supply the domestic market with LPG, propylene, petrol, diesel and other fuels, meeting one-third of the domestic market's demand.
The government has also given permission for the third refinery to be located in Long Son commune of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. The third refinery, set to be operational before 2015, will be designed to process from 10-15 million tonnes of crude oil annually.
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