Sunday, December 21, 2008

Deputy PM reminds oil refinery contractors of February deadline

With major sections of the Dung Quat oil refinery almost complete, contractors should continue to work quickly to make sure of meeting its February deadline, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said Saturday.

They should encourage workers to work during the Tet holidays, he said during a visit to the country’s first refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai.

The refinery management told Hai that work on major tendering packages has almost been wrapped up.

Quality inspections have been completed on tendering package 5A to build a breakwater, package 5B (oil products export jetty), and package 7 (administrative and service facilities), managers said.

EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) tendering packages 1+4 and 2+3 for procurement and installation of equipment and facilities have seen 98.4 percent of the work completed, they said.

Earlier this month the refinery received 80,000 tons of crude oil for a test run. PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) dispatched the oil from Bach Ho (White tiger) oil field off the Vietnamese coast.

The management said 1,046 workers have been trained to work in the refinery, which is set to hire around 1,200 in all when commissioned.

Hai urged the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the monopoly state power supplier, to link the refinery’s power turbines to the national grid. He also instructed the Quang Ngai Province administration to complete site clearance for the Dung Quat Economic Zone.

Safety and security first

Hai also called on agencies concerned to ensure the site’s security.

Many crimes were reported this year in the economic zone, where the refinery is located, including murders, stabbings, thefts of construction materials and drug deals. The zone, 870 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, also houses many other petrochemical and heavy industries.

Vietnam is Southeast Asia’s third-largest crude oil producer with output averaging 350,000 barrels per day.

But it still imports most of its oil products in the absence of a refinery.

Capitalized at US$2.5 billion, Dung Quat will have a capacity to refine 6.5 million tons of crude annually. PetroVietnam is seeking to raise that to 10 million tons.

When fully operational, Dung Quat will supply more than 40 percent of the oil needs of Vietnam, which has a population of 86.5 million and more than 20 million motorbikes.

Demand is expected to grow 13-15 percent annually.

Later Saturday Hai visited Doosan Vina Company and called on the South Korean firm to fulfill its commitments to workers and set up a labor union soon to avert future industrial action like the wildcat strike that hit the firm earlier this month.

Two weeks ago around 1,300 workers gathered in front of the company to demand proper treatment and payment of allowances.

They agreed to go back to work after the firm, which makes cranes, pressure tanks and filtering devices, promised it would soon set up a labor union, improve the quality of food, guarantee safety, and behave better with employees.

Source: TN, Agencies

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