FACTBOX-Vietnam's first oil refinery Dung Quat

Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Vietnamese government said on Friday
the country's first refinery, the 140,000-bpd Dung Quat plant
will begin commercial production at 1300 GMT on Feb. 22, 15
years after the plan was mooted with repeated delays.

"The heart of Dung Quat has begun to beat," the government
said in a statement.

Asia's second-largest importer of petrol and diesel is
likely to cut a third of its annual import needs this year to
11.2 million tonnes as the plant is expected to churn out about
2.7 million tonnes of oil products, the trade ministry has
said.

Dung Quat is expected to use 3.5 million tonnes of
Vietnam's light sweet flagship Bach Ho crude in its first year
of operation.

Following is a list of facts about the refinery and oil
products Dung Quat will produce.

For related story, click on: [ID:nSP175350]

PRODUCTS*

*when run at 100 percent capacity, expected in August 2009

Petrol (90, 92, 95 octane) 150,000 tonnes/month (43,150
bpd)

Jet fuel: 30,000 tonnes/month (7,890
bpd)

Diesel: 250,000 tonnes/month (61,230
bpd)

Fuel oil: 25,000 tonnes/month (5,340
bpd)

LPG: 24,000 tonnes/month (7,100
bpd)

Propylene: 110,000 tonnes per year

INVESTMENT

Owner: state oil monopoly Petrovietnam became the sole
owner of the refinery after France's Total pulled out of a
planned joint venture in 1995 and later Russian state oil
Zarubezhneft in 2002 due to disagreements over the plant's
distant location and technical issues.

Operator: Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd,
a subsidiary of Petrovietnam

Location: Quang Ngai province, about 900 km (560 miles)
north of Vietnam's main consumption centre in Ho Chi Minh City
and nearly 900 km south of the capital Hanoi.

Investment: Petrovietnam put the final tag at $3 billion,
up from $2.5 billion previously and more than double an
original cost estimate of about $1.4 billion in 1994. It may
need another $1 billion to build a desulphurising unit targeted
for 2013.

Engineering and procurement contractor: a consortium led by
France's Technip (TECF.PA)

Feedstock: the plant will use only Vietnam's light sweet
Bach Ho (White Tiger) crude oil until 2011 under the
engineering contract with Technip. Petrovietnam has signed
several deals with foreign oil firms including BP to supply
sour crude oil to Dung Quat after 2011.

Investment need: Petrovietnam officials have said the plant
needed about $1 billion to upgrade its technology and add a
desulphuriser component to enable it to process sour foreign
crudes by 2013.

Privatisation plan: Petrovietnam is looking to sell up to
49 percent of the plant to a foreign buyer who can secure
long-term supply of crude oil to the plant. Chairman Dinh La
Thang said a number of foreign oil majors including Royal Dutch
Shell, Essar and SK Energy have approached Petrovietnam for
equity stakes and participation in upgrading the refinery.

Workforce: over 1,000 workers and engineers

Expected annual revenues: 55 trillion dong ($3.24 billion)
in 2009.
(Source: Petrovietnam)
(Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)