Hyundai Oilbank to use Vietnam as export hub for lubricants and other petroleum products

Hyundai Oilbank, the oil refining unit of South Korea’s Hyundai shipbuilding group, has leased storage tanks at a private petroleum product terminal near Ho Chi Minh City, for use as an export hub to Southeast Asia.

The oil terminal in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, a province on the coast of Vietnam’s southeast region, is the country’s first private oil product terminal that allows foreign operators to freely ship goods imported into Vietnam. Its location, near Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s economic hub, makes it an ideal export hub,

South Korean imports have been rising in Vietnam, since the two countries signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2015.

Hyundai Oilbank, which is leasing tankage that can store as much as 200,000 barrels of oil, plans to export petroleum products to Cambodia and Laos. These two countries currently do not have oil refineries. Neither do they have large port facilities, so they mainly import petroleum products through Ba Ria Vung Tau.

Hyundai Oilbank said it plans to double its exports next year, which currently stands at around 3 million barrels a year. “Beginning in 2021, we will diversify our export products into petrochemicals and lubricants among others,” ” a Hyundai Oilbank official was quoted as saying.

Hyundai Oilbank will become the first South Korean oil refiner to set up an oil storage hub in Vietnam. Vietnam’s petroleum product market is growing by more than 5% annually, currently importing 30% of its total requirements.