Leaders of Quang Ngai Province meet Russian energy company Gazprom Neft in the central province of Quang Ngai on July 23.  —  Photo quangngai.gov.vn

HA NOI ( Biz Hub) — Negotiations to sell a 49 per cent stake in the Dung Quat oil refinery to Russia's Gazprom Neft are progressing smoothly, officials from the Russian company told leaders of Quang Ngai Province, where the refinery is situated, at a meeting on July 23.

Pham Nhu So, deputy chairman of the province and head of the Dung Quat Economic Zone Management Board, received the visitors who had come to survey the tax and financial mechanisms and the content related to the acquisition the refinery.

Andrei Shutov, head of Gazprom's legal department, told the Quang Ngai leaders that plans for the acquisition would be submitted to the Vietnamese Government next month.

So said the Dung Quat Economic Zone has been the province's growth engine in recent years while the refinery is at the heart of the province's economic development.

He said 108ha of clear land would be available by March next year for the refinery's expansion.

Gazprom Neft has estimated that the expansion and upgrade to the refinery would cost US$1-1.5 billion.

Currently, the refinery has the capacity from of 6.5 million tonnes of crude oil per year. The company also said the refinery was expected to produce 8.5 million tones of crude oil a year (171,000 barrels per day) once a projected upgrade is finished by 2022.

So said since the Dung Quat refinery is a key project, in addition to support from the Government, his province would also offer incentives.

Viet Nam and Russia have for long had close energy co-operation beginning with the construction of a hydropower plant in the 1980s and then the oil and gas joint venture Vietsovpetro.

The latest co-operation is in developing nuclear energy. — VNS