Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai Province. Its expansion project, worth US$1.8 billion, is expected to be completed by 2021. — VNA/VNS Photo Huy Hung

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — The Dung Quat Oil Refinery has been actively implementing its expansion plan with a total investment of more than US$1.8 billion.

Dinh Van Ngoc, general director of the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR), a PetroVietnam unit that operates the refinery, said its annual processing capacity would be increased in the future from the current 6.5 million tonnes to 9 million tonnes, or 192,000 barrels a day, which would be 30 per cent higher than the current capacity.

The expansion project, covering an area of 108ha of land and 196ha of water surface in the Dung Quat Economic Zone, will include some new workshops and increase the current capacity of existing workshops.

The expansion work is expected to be completed by 2021.

BSR plans to sign two important contracts on consultancy for the project's management and basic designs.

The company has chosen suitable contractors who meet their expectations and criteria, Ngoc said, adding that the signing of the contracts would be an important event to promote the expansion.

The expansion project aims to improve the effectiveness of BSR and PetroVietnam, increasing the stable supply of crude oil in accordance with the Euro 5 standard.

In addition to the current products, the expansion will allow the refinery to produce new items such as plastic resins, bitumen, petrol A97 and A98 and special fuels for military and national defence purposes.

Two hundred new workers are expected to be hired during the expansion.

The country's first refinery, Dung Quat opened in 2009 and became operational in May 2010, with a capacity of refining 148,000 bpd of crude oil, meeting 30 per cent of the nation's demand for petroleum products.

Viet Nam has forecast that the demand for petroleum products will reach 27 million tonnes per year by 2025.

Dung Quat marked a successful year in 2014 for the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company. The refinery's total output reached 5.81 million tonnes, helping it to earn VND128 trillion ($6 billion), equivalent to 120 per cent and 128 per cent of the yearly output and revenue targets, respectively.

Binh Son has set a target of producing more than 5.86 million tonnes of various products, which will help it to earn more than VND120.6 trillion ($5.7 billion) in revenue this year. — VNS