Vietnam considers refinery and petrochemical project

Complex could be built by Thailand’s PTT.

PTT’s Vietnam refinery project will rise in the central Vietnamese province of Binh Dinh. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed in principle to the construction of the huge refinery and petrochemical complex in the Economic Zone of Nhon Hoi.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai signed a document allowing the Binh Dinh provincial government to ask PTT to carry out a feasibility study for the project.

The feasibility study will be submitted for evaluation by the industry and environment ministries before it being sent to the prime minister for approval.

Construction of the refinery is expected to begin in 2016 with commercial output starting in 2020. The refinery will have a capacity of 660,000 barrels per day or 36 million metric tons per year.

Total project cost is estimated at around US$27 billion. That huge cost has raised concerns in Vietnam that PTT, whose 2012 net profit was US$4.2 billion on revenues of US$93 billion, might be unable to finance the project.