Petroleum Authority of Thailand works on a US$27 billion oil refinery project in Binh Dinh.

HA NOI (Biz Hub) —The Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) announced three international companies as consultants for their US$27 billion oil refinery project in the central region of Viet Nam on Thursday.

Having completed a feasibility study for the giant refinery and petrochemical complex in the central coastal province of Binh Dinh's Nhon Hoi Economic Zone, PTT selected the partners that best fit into their plans.

The McKinsey Company have been selected as a strategic project manager, Foster Wheeler will carry out engineering consultation and the preliminary stages of the project and IHS Inc will support import and export of sources from now to May next year.

The Thai investor has also studied the environmental impact of their project and will soon choose their financial consultants.

If the Vietnamese Government approves the plan, it will become the biggest foreign-invested project in Viet Nam. It will have a capacity of 660,000 barrels per day, or 30 million tonnes of crude oil per year, a five-fold increase over the output of Viet Nam's current largest oil refinery in Dung Quat.

PTT Deputy Director General Sukrit Surabotsopon (left) and Le Huu Loc, chairman of Binh Dinh province's People Committee at the press meeting on August 15 in Binh Dinh.— Photo ndhmoney

Sukrit Surabotsopon, PTT Deputy Director General, told local media that Binh Dinh was chosen as the location because of its 2,000 ha wide space, deep water port and distance from residential areas.

As PTT not only has good sources to import crude oil but also has a crew to carry about two million barrels to Nhon Hoi refinery, Sukrit was confident about his project's success over its smaller competitors in the region.

As head of Nhon Hoi Economic Zone Man Ngoc Ly said the PTT project would enjoy special incentives for investing in a difficult area of Viet Nam, adding that they had asked the Government to give PTT the highest enterprises income tax exemption - 70 years.

According to experts, import demand for petroleum products would increase by another 4.2 million tonnes per year from now until 2020 if the project were to go ahead. In this situation, Viet Nam would be transformed from an importer to an exporter of petroleum products, according to Le Huu Loc, chairman of Binh Dinh province's People Committee. He added that the project would create direct employment for about 30,000 workers as well as direct work for 100,000 workers.

According Sukrit, if things go to schedule, Nhon Hoi oil refinery project will become operational in 2020.--VNS