Gov’t to guarantee oil refinery loans
The Prime Minister on Sunday gave specific guidelines for foreign currency guaranteed loans provided by local commercial banks for the Dung Quat Oil Refinery in central Quang Ngai province.
The Ministry of Finance is guaranteeing the bank loans, including the US$200 million loan issued by the Viet Nam Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) for the refinery.
If the refinery’s investor, the Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), runs short of foreign capital to complete the project, the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Viet Nam will support the company’s bid to attract additional loans.
However, PetroVietnam must send documents to the Ministry of Finance to ensure it is meeting its obligations.
The initial investment capital for Dung Quat was set at $2.5 billion, but PetroVietnam recently announced plans to raise that figure to $3 billion or even more.
The group has submitted its plans to the Government for approval, said Pham Minh Nghia, assistant to the director of the refinery’s management board, said.
It is expected that Dung Quat will be producing diesel, kerosene, fuel oil, Jet A1 (for aeroplanes), LPG (liquid petroleum gas) and A92, A95 petrol by the end of this month.
The refinery is designed to process 6.5 million tonnes of crude oil per annum. It is expected to be fully operational in August with an annual capacity of 2.6 million tonnes of petroleum products.
It was also announced on Sunday that loans would be guaranteed for a Polypropylene workshop – a part of the Dung Quat Oil Refinery, including credit from South Korean partners. Insurance is being provided by the Korea Export Insurance Corporation.
"The workshop will be able to produce 150,000 tonnes of polypropylene products per year. Construction work is expected to be finished by the end of the year," Nghia said.
VietNamNet, VietNamNews
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