A worker is operating the equipment at the Dung Quat oil refinery. — Photo VNA

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Dung Quat Oil Refinery Plant earned nearly VND5.7 trillion (US$250 million) in after-tax profit last year, achieving 52 per cent of its annual target, the Dau Tu (Investment) newspaper said.

The plant is operated by the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR).

According to a report of the Viet Nam Oil and Gas Corporation (Petrol Viet Nam), BSR earned consolidated revenue of VND94.4 trillion ($4.2 billion) in 2015, achieving 100 per cent of its annual target. Of this, the revenue of the parent company was VND94.1 trillion ($4.19 billion), meeting 100 per cent of the yearly target.

It is worth mentioning that BSR constantly asked the relevant authorities for help in 2015 as it was worried that the Dung Quat Oil plant could be on the verge of bankruptcy. The company said it was facing high inventories, running out of storage space for products and was unable to compete against imported fuel.

The cause of its troubles was that the petroleum produced by Dung Quat Refinery faced higher taxes than the petroleum imported from the ASEAN region, forcing several local businesses that bought petroleum from Dung Quat to switch to other sources, the newspaper said.

For instance, the polypropylene plastic (PP) beads produced by BSR were unable to compete with imported goods sourced from the ASEAN region that enjoy tax incentives. BSR's PP inventory sometimes rose up to 80 per cent in the third quarter of 2015, it said. — VNS