No short cuts for mega Nhon Hoi oil refinery plan

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has asked Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee to guide the investor to proceed with detailed investment plans in line with the prime ministerial Decree 108/2006/ND-CP providing guidance on the implementation of Vietnam’s Investment Law 2005.

In an official letter sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee, Hai emphasised that the  plans must address the concerns of relevant governmental agencies about the feasibility of this mega project.

The MoIT was also assigned to work closely with  Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee and other relevant agencies to carefully appraise the feasibility of this project.

The ministry would also be reviewing the implementation of already-approved oil and gas projects in line with the nation’s oil and gas development master plan until 2015 with the vision towards 2025.

And then, based on the comprehensive review, the MoIT would consider asking the prime minister for adding PTT Public Company’s proposed project to the master plan.

Three years ago, PTT Public Company unveiled its plan to develop a mega oil refinery and petrochemical complex project in Vietnam. Last year, it officially proposed the ambitious project to the Vietnamese government with the planned investment capital of $28 billion.

According to Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee, the complex would have the total refining capacity of 660,000 barrels per day, or 33.6 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

If the project is approved, it would be one of the largest oil refinery and petrochemical complexes in Asia and its capacity will be five times higher than Vietnam’s existing Dung Quat oil refinery in central Quang Ngai province.

However, industry experts have expressed doubts about the scale of this project due to its huge investment capital. State-run PetroVietnam also sent a document to the MoIT expressing concerns about this project.

Vietnam now has only one oil refinery, with the annual refining capacity of 6.5 million tonnes of crude oil. PetroVietnam, Dung Quat’s developer, planned to expand the oil refinery’s capacity. 

Other oil refinery projects in the country such as Nghi Son in central Thanh Hoa province, Vung Ro in central Phu Yen province and Long Son in southern Ba Ria-Vung Tau province are still on the development stage.