Vietnam's Nghi Son Refinery to resume full operation next week

Issues in the residue fluid catalytic cracking system, which were discovered at the end of last month, have been 94% repaired and the unit will resume operation on Saturday, Le Nguyen Quoc Vinh, deputy general director of Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical, said at a meeting Thursday.

Within three or four days of resuming operation, the unit will be stable at 100% of its capacity. It will then be operated at 105-107% of production to compensate for the shutdown period, he said.

Nghi Son officials said earlier that the plant would have to cut production by 20-25% to 600,000 cubic meters this month due to the technical problem.

Dung Quat Refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai has been operating at 110% to make up for the reduction at Nghi Son.

Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said that the issue at Nghi Son has caused disruption to the fuel supply, and that the plant needs to ensure supply during the Lunar New Year Tet holiday, which falls in late this month.

The refinery must resume full operation by Sunday, he added.

As Nghi Son plans to shut down for 55 days for a full maintenance starting August 25 this year, Dien said that the shutdown must go according to the plan and not a day later.

Last year, Nghi Son operated at an average of 88% of its capacity. It supplied 7.4 million tons of fuel to the market.

It plans to operate at nearly 80% of capacity this year because of the nearly two months of maintenance.