Binh Dinh acts on delayed refinery

                                 Nhon Hoi Economic Zone. Photo: Duc Anh

South-central province gives deadline to investor of long-delayed $22 billion Nhon Hoi Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Complex project.

The Binh Dinh Provincial People’s Committee is threatening to revoke the license of the huge Nhon Hoi Oil Refinery and Petrochemical Complex being developed by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand Company (PTT) due to delays in reimbursing investment by the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in infrastructure.

“We will retrieve the land and transfer it to another developer if PTT has not acted by the end of June,” Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Toan, Deputy Manager of the Economic Zone, told VET.

The People’s Committee met with PTT in late May to check project progress.

“The global oil price has been falling sharply, which is the main reason behind the long delay,” Mr. Toan said. The developer must employ experts, including those from the Vietnam Petroleum Institute, to conduct research and re-evaluate the project’s structure. The Thai petroleum group and another partner, Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Aramco, has promised to officially announce the size and progress of the project by the end of the month.

For the project to continue, PTT must reimburse $200 million spent on infrastructure and also pay the relocation costs of projects occupying the site previously. It must also commit to fulfilling procedures under current regulations so that construction may begin in the first quarter of 2017.

Total investment has been estimated at around $22 billion but last February PTT asked for a reevaluation of the project, with investment to be less than $22 billion and capacity reduced to 400,000 oil barrels per day.

Leading US petroleum corporation Exxon Mobil is also planning a similarly large gas and power plant project in central Vietnam, which has triggered competition between Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces.

Binh Dinh province attracted six foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in 2015, with total investment capital of $43.08 million, bringing its total to 61 FDI projects and $1.8 billion in capital.

by Hong Nhung / vneconomictimes.com