MOSCOW (MRC) -- The construction of Vietnam's second oil refinery, the USD7.5 B Nghi Son plant, is falling behind schedule, the government said, extending the country's reliance on imported products in 2017, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing.
Test runs of the 200 Mbpd refinery, scheduled for November 2016, would be delayed by about four months, according to state oil group PetroVietnam.
The Nghi Son plant, initially slated to start operations in July 2017, will refine Kuwaiti crude to make liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel among other products mainly used for domestic markets.
Vietnam's existing Dung Quat refinery meets about 30% of domestic demand.
Senior government and PetroVietnam officials met on Tuesday to tackle issues surrounding the construction of the refinery, the government report said, without elaborating.
Japan's Idemitsu Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International each own 35.1% of the facility, while PetroVietnam has 25.1% and Mitsui Chemicals 4.7%.
As MRC wrote previously, in June 2013 ,Mitsui Chemicals, Idemitsu Kosan, Kuwait Petroleum International, and Petro Vietnam announced the final decision to invest a total USD9 billion in their refinery and petrochemical complex construction project at Nghi Son economic zone, Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam. Following this decision, Nghi Son Refinery & Petrochemical Limited Liability Company, the project's joint venture company, concluded a financing agreement with a public financial institution and private banks in a total of USD5 billion. This final decision on project investment and financing agreements allowed construction to start in July. Initially, construction was scheduled for completion in 2016 and commercial operation is targeted for 2017.
MRC