Nghi Son oil refinery beats maintenance schedule

Maintenance work at the Nghi Son oil refinery in Thanh Hoa province, central Vietnam was completed Wednesday, seven days ahead of the 55-day schedule.

Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC (NSRP) said the early completion has enabled resumption of normal operations as well as delivery of petroleum products to the market starting Thursday.

The successful completion of maintenance work, also the first major turnaround of the facility, will generate significant benefits for Vietnam, the refinery operator added.

So Hasegawa, general director of NSRP, said the speed of work showcased NSRP’s strong commitment to completing activities on time and on budget. Its also "a significant investment in Vietnam’s energy future,” he added.

The Nghi Son refinery is a $9 billion facility jointly owned by Petrovietnam with 25.1%, Kuwait Petroleum Europe B.V. (KPE) with 35.1%, Japan’s Mitsui Chemical with 4.7%, and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co. with 35.1%. Located in the central province of Thanh Hoa, it has a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, or 10 million tons a year.

Nghi Son and Dung Quat, the only two operational oil refineries in Vietnam, account for over half of the petroleum supply in the country.

The third project is the Long Son Petrochemicals Complex in Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Thailand's The Siam Cement Group (SCG) started construction of the $5.4 billion facility in the fourth quarter of 2018. The project is nearly complete and is ready to churn out first products this year.

At full capacity, Long Son's annual output will include 1.4 million tons of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). SCG is the biggest investor in the project with a 71% stake while state-run Petrovietnam holds 29%.

Vietnam’s petroleum output reached 10.73 million tons in the first nine months of this year, up 3.8% year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office (GSO). Meanwhile, the country spent $5.98 billion on importing 7.33 million tons in the same period, down 12.3% in value and up 12.3% in volume year-on-year.