Vietnam raises investments in Dung Quat refinery to $3 billion

Vietnam increased its planned investment in the Dung Quat oil refinery to more than US$3 billion from $2.5 billion because of construction costs and the resettlement of villagers, the government said.

The additional $553 million will come from the net income of crude oil sales the government allows state-owned Vietnam Oil & Gas Group to use, the government said in a statement on its website Tuesday.   Vietnam is importing most of its oil products and the government expects the Dung Quat oil refinery, with an annual capacity of 6.5 million cubic tons of crude oil, will meet a third of the country’s fuel demand next year, according to the statement. Of the $3 billion, $2.48 billion will be spent on engineering, procurement and construction contracts, and the remaining amount will be used for working capital and resettlement, the government said. The 148,000 barrel-a-day plant, located at Dung Quat Bay in the central province of Quang Ngai, produced its first commercial batch of products in February. Source: Bloomberg