News – full story

PTT has completed a feasibility study of its plans for the complex

26/11/2012

PTT mulls US$29bn Vietnam refinery

Thai firm ‘not yet decided’ on investment

Richard Jansen

THAI oil and gas company PTT is considering plans to build a gigantic US$29bn oil refinery and petrochemicals complex in Vietnam.

According to Vietnam’s state-owned Tuoi Tre newspaper, if the refinery is built it will be able to process around 660,000 bbl/d of oil, increasing the country’s capacity almost five times over. Construction work is scheduled to begin in 2016, with the plant coming online three years later.

PTT has already completed a feasibility study of its plans for the complex, but is yet to decide whether or not it will proceed. Surong Bulakul, PTT’s chief financial officer, told Reuters that the Thai company “has not yet decided” whether it will invest in the project, and that it should “take a long time for PTT to make a commitment.”

If the project goes ahead, the refinery complex will be the biggest ever foreign investment in Vietnam.

The country currently only has one working refinery, the Dung Quat plant in Quang Nam province. It currently produces around 130,000 bbl/d, and supplies only about a third of domestic demand for fuel.