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Dung Quat gasoline making unit closed
Vietnam Oil & Gas Group has shut a gasoline-making unit at its Dung Quat crude refinery after operational problems at the facility, a company official said.
The refinery’s fluid catalytic cracker began experiencing difficulties on August 15 and was closed Wednesday, said the official, who asked to remain unidentified because he isn’t authorized to talk to the media. No date was set for when the plant would be restarted, he said.
The 148,000 barrel-a-day Dung Quat refinery, which started commercial operations in February, aims to meet a third of Vietnam’s fuel demand next year. The country currently imports almost all of its oil products.
A fluid catalytic cracker takes vaccum gasoil and other so-called heavier fuel streams and processes them into gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas and petrochemicals. The unit allows refineries to use lower cost crude oils.
Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, known as PetroVietnam, said last month that Dung Quat was expected to operate at full capacity by August 25, according to a statement on its website.
However, a Dow Jones report on Wednesday quoted a senior official of the refinery operator as saying that the schedule may be missed.
The report quoted Dinh Van Ngoc, deputy director general of Binh Son Refinery Co., a unit of PetroVietnam, as saying, “we are not sure if we can make it.”
“The refinery still needs more fine-tuning to meet both quality requirements and quantity requirements,” Ngoc said.
vietnamnet
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