The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway Development Joint Stock Company (BVEC) made its official debut in Ho Chi Minh City on December 23.
Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation (IDICO), Song Da Construction Corporation and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) are the three founding shareholders of the company.
Of the company's total charter capital of VND 1.75 trillion, IDICO contributes 49%, Song Da Construction Corporation, 30% and BIDV, 10%.
The company is established to carry out the project to expand National Highway No 51 and another project to build the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway under the BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model.
The Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway is 35 metres wide with six lanes. It runs in parallel with the expanded National Highway No 51. Total investment for the project is put at VND 15 trillion.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway Development JSC debuts
Chinese province wants to promote economic ties with Vietnam
China’s southwestern province of Sichuan wishes to further develop economic, commercial and investment relations with Vietnam, said Huang Xiaoxiang Vice-Governor of Sichuan province at a seminar to explore opportunities for cooperation between Vietnam and China in Hanoi on December 25.
Located in the centre of China’s southwest region, Sichuan will provide a number of favourable trade and commerce opportunities for both foreign and Vietnamese businesses.
Economic relations between Vietnam and Sichuan have been constantly strengthened with two-way trade turnover increasing by 111 percent in 2007 and over 35 percent in the first 10 months of 2008.
Many of Sichuan’s businesses have invested in Vietnam. Over US$476 million was put into a thermal power plant in Hai Phong and another US$230 million into another plant in Uong Bi.
The provincial authorities have drawn up a plan to expand the system of roads and rail transport between Thanh Do town and Kunming, Yunnan province, China, to facilitate cross-border goods exchange with Vietnam.
In addition, conferences are regularly held to introduce Vietnam’s economic achievements and investment policies and encourage the Sichuan business community to invest in the country.
PetroVietnam, Can Tho target comprehensive cooperation
The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) is planning to build fertiliser warehouses and a network of distribution in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho .
The scheme is part of a comprehensive cooperation deal signed between the group and Can Tho city on Dec. 28.
PetroVietnam will consider the construction of office buildings, finance and insurance centres and residential areas in Can Tho - the second largest city in the Mekong Delta region.
In addition, the group will help Can Tho seek other investors both at home and abroad to engage in the city’s development projects.
PetroVietnam previously inaugurated a liquefied gas depot – the largest of its kind in the region - and a nitrogenous fertiliser storage facility at the city’s Tra Noc 2 industrial zone.
Up to 49% of oil refinery stocks to be sold
The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) announced, at a press conference on Tuesday, that it will sell up to 49% of its shares in the Dung Quat Oil Refinery to foreign partners.
PetroVietnam said stock sales will be conducted after the construction of the oil refinery is completed and its value is re-defined, based on the principle of giving priority to foreign investors that are ready and willing to supply crude oil to those plants on a long-term basis.
PetroVietnam said next week, PVN and its partner, BP, will sign a contract under which BP will provide combined oil to the Dung Quat Oil Refinery to replace at least 50% of the volume of crude oil supplied by the White Tiger oil field. However, PetroVietnam will define the specific volume of the alternative combined oil based on the prices and quality of this product.
Currently, the price for White Tiger oil field’s crude oil is more expensive than other kinds of crude oil. On the other hand, the crude oil output from this oil field tends to fall, so the use of alternative combined oil is expected to be more economical.
Dung Quat is the country’s first oil refinery, currently being built in the central province of Quang Ngai, and scheduled for completion in February 2009. Besides Dung Quat, PetroVietnam has plans to build two other oil refineries.
One of these two, with an estimated output capacity of 200,000 barrels a day and investment capital of $6 billion, is to be built in the central province of Thanh Hoa, in a joint venture with the Kuwait international oil and gas group and the Idemitsu Kosan group of Japan.
The other, also with a production capacity of 200,000 barrels a day, is scheduled to be built in the southern region, the country’s largest consumer centre. The project is still at the discussion stage with foreign partners, including the Venezuelan National Oil and Gas Group.
Despite being the third-largest producer of crude oil in Southeast Asia, with an average output of 300,000 barrels a day, Vietnam still has to import petroleum due to a lack of oil refineries. According to PetroVietnam, the country will need to buy approximately 26.5 tons of crude oil to supply the three refineries when they are operational.
Once operational, these three oil refineries will help the country to reduce its import and trade deficit.
Pha Rung Shipyard builds oil tanker
The Pha Rung Shipyard , a subsidiary of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (Vinashin), handed over a chemical-oil tanker of 6,500 DWT to Fortune Marine of the Republic of Korea on Dec. 30.
The 110m-long and 18.2m-wide tanker is the fifth of the kind that Pha Rung has built for foreign partners.
The oil-chemical tanker with the speed of 13 knots was designed by Asia Ship Design and Consultants Co. , Ltd (ASDEC). It has Korea Register Class for unrestricted zone of operation.
Pha Rung Shipyard is also working on one more chemical-oil tanker of 13,000 DWT in line with its strategy to build specialised ships for both domestic use and export.
SCIC, PetroVietnam boost comprehensive cooperation
The State Capital Investment Corp. (SCIC) and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVienam) signed an agreement on comprehensive cooperation in Hanoi on December 30.
Under the agreement, the two sides will jointly own at least 51 percent of investment capital in oil and gas projects.
SCIC will cooperate with PetroVietnam in exploring and exploiting oil and gas abroad. It will be responsible for seeking strategic partners and potential domestic and foreign financial institutions for the implementation of the projects.
The projects that the two sides will jointly implement include the Dung Quat, Nghi Son and Long Son Oil Refinery Plants and the Ca Mau Fertiliser Plant.
