Binh Dinh aborts oil refinery project

A view of Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in south-central Binh Dinh Province. - Photo zing.vn

This announcement was made by the provincial committee's chairman Ho Quoc Dung at a meeting yesterday.

Dũng explained the long delay in the project's implementation after three years of registration for investment affected its feasibility as well as the province's attractiveness to other investors.

The Nhon Hoi Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Complex, located in the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in the locality, was to break ground this year and planned to be commissioned in 2021 with a capacity of 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The project was initially estimated at nearly US$29 billion in 2013 by Thailand's state-owned oil and gas giant PTT, but was scaled down to nearly $22 billion in the feasibility plan. PTT and Saudi Arabian Oil Company each would contribute a 40 per cent stake while a Vietnamese partner would contribute the remaining 20 per cent.

It was designed to be the first petrochemical refinery complex in Viet Nam and would contribute about 40 per cent of Binh Định Province's GDP.

Early this year, some foreign and local media reported Thai PTT decided to withdraw from the project due to difficulties caused by falling global oil prices.

In the meeting yesterday, Dung said the province would continue to promote other investment activities and would create favourable conditions for Japanese and European investors to land their investments here.

The local authority expects to draw investment projects in the Industry-Trade-Service-Urban Becamix-Binh Dinh Complex in Van Canh District.

In the meantime, the province is also calling for investments in other projects including the Japanese Yo Yo frozen aquatic processing plant, Vinh Loi and Aquatic Industrial Complex and the Cat Khanh seafood processing zone.