PetroVietnam to start building Nghi Son refinery in May 2013

PetroVietnam and its partners from Japan and Kuwait will start the construction of Vietnam’s second oil refinery in May next year, local media reported.
PetroVietnam Chairman Phung Dinh Thuc said earlier this month that the partners in the joint venture will sign the engineering, procurement and construction contract with a foreign contractor in December for the construction of the Nghi Son refinery.
Thuc did not name the contractor, but the online news provider Gafin cited PetroVietnam Chief Executive Do Van Hau as saying that the contractor is a consortium of JGC, Chiyoda, Technip, GS E&C and SK E&C.
He said the 200,000-barrel-a-day Nghi Son refinery is scheduled to start production 40 months after the contract is signed.
Plans to build the refinery in Thanh Hoa province have been delayed several times. PetroVietnam earlier said the refinery could cost between US$8 billion and US$10 billion.
Idemitsu Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International each hold a 35.1% stake in the planned refinery. PetroVietnam and Mitsui Chemicals Inc. own 25.1% and 4.7%, respectively.
The Nghi Son refinery will be designed to process Kuwaiti crude. Kuwait Petroleum is to supply all of its feedstock requirements.