THANH HÓA — The Nghi Sơn oil refinery and petrochemical plant in the north central province of Thanh Hóa officially began its commercial operation on Sunday.

“The commercial operation of the project is significant to the national development in terms of politics, economy, society, security and defence, and contributes to ensuring national energy security,” Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said at the launching ceremony.

The commercial operation of the plant marks a breakthrough development in the country’s oil refinery-petrochemical sector, he said.

Together with the Dung Quất oil refinery in the central province of Quảng Ngãi, the fuel provided by Nghi Sơn will meet about 80 per cent of the domestic demand, reducing dependence on imports from foreign markets, he added.

So far, this is the biggest project in Việt Nam regarding construction scale and total investment. 

The project is a symbol of international co-operation that received special attention and support from the Vietnamese Government and its important partners – namely Japan and Kuwait, the PM said.

It helps create a skilled workforce, serving as a “nucleus” for the development of human resources in the region, he said. 

The Government leader highly valued the warm support of people from Tĩnh Gia District in Thanh Hóa Province to hand over their land for the construction of the plant.

He asked Thanh Hóa authorities, the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), the management board of Nghi Sơn Economic Zone, and the Nghi Sơn oil refinery company to continue taking good care of the lives of the locals.

”The commercial operation of the plant is an important event, marking a big milestone in the socio-economic achievement of Việt Nam at the end of 2018,” the PM said.

Building work on the Nghi Sơn oil refinery and petrochemical project began in 2013.

It was funded through investment from PetroVietnam (25.1 per cent), Kuwait Petroleum International (35.1 per cent), and the Japanese firms Idemitsui Kosan (35.1 per cent) and Mitsui Chemicals (4.7 per cent).

The plant is located at Nghi Sơn Economic Zone – one of the key coastal economic zones and a national key location of oil and gas.

With a total investment capital of nearly $9.3 billion, the plant is a world-class deep processing complex using the most advanced technology with the full capacity of 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day in the first phase.

At present, the plant has successfully produced 10 kinds of petrochemical products. 

As of December 2018, the plant processed around five million tonnes of crude oil and contributed more than $8 trillion to the State budget.

At full capacity, the plant could process 10 million tonnes of crude oil per year, meeting 40 per cent of the domestic fuel market. Nearly 17 per cent of the petrochemical products will be exported to foreign markets. — VNS