Nov. 27 – The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) said that it would sell up to 30 percent of its shares in oil refineries to foreign investors interested in supplying crude oil to those plants on a long-term basis.
PetroVietnam’s General Director Tran Ngoc Canh said during the West Pacific gas industry’s 10 th conference that the amount of stocks for foreign investors could be increased depending on the situation, reports the Vietnam News Agency.
The company is currently building the country's first refinery, the Dung Quat, located in the central province of Quang Ngai in addition to plans to build another two plants.
Of these two, one will have an estimated output capacity of 200,000 barrels a day, needing an investment capital of US$6 billion and will be developed in the central province of Thanh Hoa. The project is in joint venture with the Kuwait International Oil and Gas Group and the Idemitsu Kosan Group of Japan.
Another one will have a production capacity of 200,000 barrels a day and is scheduled to be built in the southern region, the country’s largest consumer center. The project's other details are still tentative and under negotiations with with foreign partners, including the Venezuelan National Oil and Gas Group.
Vietnam is the third-largest producer of crude oil in the region with an average output of 300,000 barrels a day but has been forced to import petroleum to meet its needs due to lack of oil refineries.
