PTT, Saudi Aramco present refinery study to VN premier

PTT president Pailin Chuchuttaworn said a delegation led by PTT group chairman Piyasvasti Amranand, together with Saudi Aramco executives, paid a visit to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last week to submit a PTT feasibility study on the project. Both partners affirmed their readiness to invest in the project, pending the approval of the Vietnamese government.

Atikom Terbsiri, PTT senior executive vice president for the petrochemicals and refining business unit, said the company proposed that PTT and its Saudi partner would each hold a 40-per-cent stake in the project, with the remaining 20 per cent held by Vietnam. 

He added that Dung had instructed Vietnam’s Industry and Trade Ministry to wrap up within one month its proposal on the project for his consideration. After he will advise PTT whether it can go ahead with the project.

PTT won the Vietnamese government’s permission for the feasibility study in May last year. 

Since August 2013, it has carried out surveys and assessments on geology, seaports, logistics and transport systems, and potential environmental impacts. The feasibility study includes commercial, technical, financial, social and environmental impact details, as well as strategies and proposed partners.

According to the study, the project would require a total investment of US$22 billion (Bt710 billion). Once in operation, it would have a production capacity of 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day and 5 million tonnes of petrochemical products annually. Capacity on that scale would be adequate to substitute completely for Vietnam’s current imports of finished oil products. 

The plant would be located in the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone in Binh Dinh province, designed to be Vietnam’s first petrochemical refinery complex. 

Atikom said the project could boost Vietnam’s GDP growth by an estimated 3-4 percentage points after completion. 

It is estimated that it will take about seven years to complete the development.