Dung Quat refinery mulls production stoppage

By Dat Nguyen April 3, 2020 | 02:39 am PT

Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai Province. Photo courtesy of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Jsc.

Vietnam’s Dung Quat Oil Refinery might have to suspend production as inventory piles with low fuel demand, its operator says.

Up to 90 percent of storage space at the Dung Quat refinery in the central Quang Ngai Province has been occupied as demand plunges over the Covid-19 pandemic, operator Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Jsc (BSR) said in a release Friday.

Domestic demand for refined fuels has fallen 30-40 percent year-on-year since February, it said, adding that the dropping trend is expected to persist through April with the government imposing 15-day social distancing campaign.

Dung Quat and the Nghi Son Refinery in central Thanh Hoa Province together produced 3 million tonnes of fuel in the first quarter, meeting almost all of domestic demand.

However, as imports exceeded demand by 35 percent, there has been rising unsold inventory piling up at the two refineries, leading to rising costs.

BSR is therefore considering cutting output and halting production at the Dung Quat refinery.

It has also proposed that the government limits or stops importing fuel until the pandemic is contained.

Vietnam’s fuel and coal inventory as of March 31 was 47 percent higher than the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.