Dung Quat Refinery experiences another malfunction.
Vietnam's only oil refinery.
Information about the second consecutive shutdown of the Dung Quat oil refinery within the past three months was obtained by Reuters from sources in the Singapore energy trading market. Because the only oil refinery facing the risk of shutdown, the Vietnamese side...
At the same time, domestic importers are seeking to purchase nearly 840,000 barrels of refined gasoline and diesel to compensate for the supply shortage. Reuters sources predict the plant will close for two weeks. However, the news agency has not yet received official confirmation from the plant's management.
The Dung Quat oil refinery resumed operations at the beginning of July.
Many experts and engineers at the Dung Quat Refinery have reported that the catalytic cracking unit (Unit 15) – considered the "heart" of the plant – is experiencing technical problems and has had to temporarily cease operations for the past two days.
The initial cause given by experts is that the plant, having just restarted operations, immediately started operating at 100% capacity, causing the CO-BOILER equipment in the catalytic cracking unit to crack. Therefore, this crucial unit had to be temporarily shut down for repairs by welding before it could resume operation.
Technip, the contractor, has now mobilized experts from Japan to Vietnam.
Meanwhile, in an interview with reporters on the morning of August 7th, the General Director of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company, Nguyen Hoai Giang, still affirmed: "There are no problems at the Dung Quat refinery." Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited is the unit managing the refinery.
Another source indicated that the leaders of Quang Ngai province are concerned that if the Dung Quat oil refinery continues to experience "technical problems" from now until the end of the year, the province's GDP growth rate will struggle to meet the target of 10-11% this year.
Previously, from early May to early July, the Dung Quat refinery also ceased operations to address technical issues before final acceptance and handover at the end of this year. Accordingly, experts from the Technip contractor consortium, in coordination with engineers and workers from Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited, successfully resolved four major technical issues and several dozen minor ones in the technology workshops. The major technical issues were concentrated in the Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) technology workshop – the most important technology workshop of the Dung Quat refinery. After operating at 100% capacity for the past month, the Dung Quat refinery is now experiencing a technical problem (unforeseen by the company).
On the international energy market, news of Vietnam's unexpected need for additional refined petroleum products is expected to further heat up the regional market, especially as many refineries in neighboring countries are temporarily shutting down for maintenance or technical reasons. This will also benefit domestic crude oil exporters, as international sources indicate that Vietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) is offering 700,000 barrels for sale, with a delivery deadline in September, when the energy market is projected to be "warmer".
However, in addition to exporting crude oil, according to energy traders, PV Oil is also looking to purchase approximately 108,000 cubic meters of refined gasoline and diesel products (equivalent to 680,000 barrels), to be delivered at the end of August or beginning of September. Another importer, Saigon Petro, is also placing an order for about 160,000 barrels of various products and expects to import them at the end of August.
According to Vnexpress-M