HÀ NỘI — Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and Siam Cement Public Company Limited (SCG) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on speeding up the process of the Long Sơn Petrochemicals (LSP) Complex in the southern province of Bà Rịa – Vũng Tàu.

Under the MoU signed in Thailand during the working visit of Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc to the country on Friday, PVN and SCG committed to helping the LSP investor carry out the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract in the fourth quarter of this year.

LSP will give priority to PVN’s subsidiaries supplying services and necessary goods for the project with the condition that the supply will not violate the country’s current regulations, ensure market competitiveness as well as the interest of LSP.

The two sides agreed to arrange funds for the project. If the lenders of LSP require, SCG will consider granting guarantee for the whole loan of LSP, including PVN’s loans.

The signing ceremony took place after the two sides met one day ago. At the meeting they discussed co-operation opportunities in petrochemicals, especially boosting the implementation of the LPS complex.

The complex is a key petrol and oil project of the Vietnamese Government. It has an investment capital of US$5.4 billion and capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of olefin per year

The project will be equipped with advanced technologies which can operate safely and meet all requirements on environment protection, ensuring the supply of high-quality petrochemical products such as PP and PE plastics.

The project, located on 464ha in the Long Sơn Petrol Industrial Park, is expected to be operational by 2022.

During the construction process, the project will create some 15,000-20,000 jobs. Once finished, it will create more than 1,000 jobs and is estimated to contribute some $115 million per year to the local budget.

The province has completed the removal of all 390 households on the project’s construction site and handed over the cleared site to LSP. — VNS