21-05-08 Vietnam has issued a license for the development of an oil refinery with annual capacity of 2 mm tons of crude oil in southern Can Tho city with an investment of $ 538 mm, a local official told.
The project's developer, Can Tho Oil Refinery -- a joint venture between a Vietnamese firm and a US partner, is expected to start the construction of the oil refinery, whose products include petroleum, liquefied petroleum gas, diesel oil and naphtha, in the city this year, said Bui Ngoc Vi, chairperson of the Economic Bureau under the Can Tho People's Committee. To feed the refinery, Can Tho Oil Refinery Company will mainly use crude oil exploited in Vietnam, and import a small amount of the material, she noted.

Vietnam is building its first two oil refineries, Dung Quat in central Quang Ngai province and Nghi Son in northern Thanh Hoa province, whose major investor is state-owned Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam). Nghi Son has initial investment of $ 6.2 bn and annual capacity of 10 mm tons of crude oil, and Dung Quat, Vietnam's first refinery with an annual processing capacity of 6.5 mm tons, will become operational early next year.
Vietnam imported nearly 4.7 mm tons of petroleum products worth roughly $ 3.8 bn in the first four months of 2008, posting respective year-on-year rises of 8 % and 70.2 %, according to the country's General Statistics Office.