Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet looks into the planning of Dung Quat deep-water port and industrial park in 1995. (File photo) Hanoi (VNA) – Since the Dung Quat Oil refinery – the first in Vietnam - was put into operation in 2009, it has served as a booster for the Dung Quat Economic Zone and the central province of Quang Ngai as a whole to lure both domestic and foreign investments.
Only 3.7 trillion VND (150.6 million USD) was injected to Quang Ngai province during 1996-2004; however, the figures increased to some 6 trillion VND in 2005 and 24.5 trillion VND in 2008 – the time when Dung Quat Oil Refinery was under construction.
Although the global economic crisis in 2008 forced investors to pull their funds out of Quang Ngai, investments in the locality bounced back from 2013, reaching its peak of some 43 trillion VND during 2018-2019 or a quarter of the total capital funneled into the central region.
Non-state capital began to flood Quang Ngai province after the oil refinery became operational, with 52.7 trillion VND registered during 2012-2013 as compared to 11.6 trillion VND recorded during 2007-2008.
As a locomotive for Quang Ngai’s economic development, the Dung Quat Economic Zone has breathed a fresh air into the province’ FDI attraction. Particularly, when the construction of the Dung Quat Oil Refinery began at the zone in 2005, the province saw an increase in the number of FDI projects.
A view of the Dung Quat Oil Refinery (Photo: congthuong.vn) During the 2000-2005 period, Quang Ngai lured only one FDI project with newly-registered capital of 2.2 million USD each year. The FDI inflow to Quang Ngai was raised to more than 3 billion USD in four large projects in 2008.
With the oil refinery, Quang Ngai has become attractive to large enterprises such as Doosan, Guang Lian Steel, Sembcrop, J-Power, Kicox, Kizuna, and Sumida.
Over the past years, the oil refinery has made great contributions to the local socio-economic development. Quang Ngai’s per capita income in 2022 reached 97.67 million VND, ranking second among the 14 central localities, and second among the five localities in the central key economic zone.
The facility will be expanded to raise its capacity to 171,000 barrels per day, up from 148,000, with a total investment of 1.26 billion USD.
Under a decision by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, the operator of the refinery - Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Joint Stock Company (BSR) - will provide 503 million USD from its equity and the rest will come from loans.
The company, a subsidiary of state-owned PetroVietnam, will set up and put into operation additional technology workshops for the processing of crude oil with higher sulfur content in accordance with the “Euro 5 standard”.
The 10.6ha refinery will be expanded by 41ha, and is scheduled to be finished in the first quarter of 2028.
The expansion was approved in 2014 but postponed by problems related to the design, appraisal, approval process and capital mobilisation.
Petrovietnam and the company had sought permission to adjust the scale, technology and progress of the expansion. The capacity target was adjusted down to 171,000 barrels a day from 192,000, and investment lowered by 540 million USD to 1.26 billion USD./.
