Vietnam PM urges Kuwait Petroleum to expand Nghi Son refinery, build bonded fuel storage facility

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday called on Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) to expand the Nghi Son oil refinery and build a bonded fuel storage facility in Vietnam.

The cabinet leader made the suggestion at a meeting with Shaikh Nawaf S. Al-Sabah, deputy chairman and CEO of KPC, during his official visit to Kuwait. KPC is the national oil company of the State of Kuwait.

Chinh described the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC as a symbol of bilateral investment ties and urged KPC to work with Vietnamese partners to resolve outstanding issues at the project on the basis of “harmonized interests and shared risks”, while moving ahead with its expansion.

He also asked the Kuwait side to continue supplying Vietnam with stable crude volumes at favourable prices and consider new cooperation projects in green and environmentally friendly energy.

In response, the KPC executive said the company is coordinating closely with state-run Petrovietnam and other partners to address the bottlenecks at Nghi Son.

He asked for the Prime Minister's continued direction to concerned authorities in addressing the bottlenecks as well as policy incentives and streamlined procedures for future projects, especially in the refining and petrochemical industry.

Located in the Nghi Son Economic Zone in Thanh Hoa province, the $9 billion Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC began commercial operations in late 2018. Phase 1 has a processing capacity of 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day (equivalent to 10 million tons per year) and primarily refines Kuwaiti crude oil.

The project developer is a joint venture of four corporations: Kuwait Petroleum Europe B.V. (KPE), Idemitsu Kosan Co. Ltd, Petrovietnam, and Mitsui Chemical Inc.

Chinh also suggested KPC explore cooperation on an bonded fuel storage facility in Vietnam to serve as a strategic hub for Kuwait’s petroleum reserves in Southeast Asia.

In a separate meeting with Oil Minister Al-Roumi, Chinh called for the creation of a joint task force to resolve Nghi Son’s pending issues and expand collaboration in upstream activities, crude supply, product trading, maintenance, technical services, and training.

He urged both sides to accelerate negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement and support progress on an FTA between Vietnam and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Kuwait’s Oil Minister said he expected the newly established Strategic Partnership between the two countries to drive stronger energy, trade and investment ties in the coming years.