The Ministries of Science-Technology and Public Security have urged Saigon Petro Co Ltd to carefully consider the use of Chinese technology for a project to upgrade its Cat Lai refinery in HCMC, Dan Tri news website reports.

Cat Lai Refinery.

A Ministry of Industry and Trade report says Saison Petro Co Ltd, Petro Summit Pte Ltd and Au Lac JSC are the owners of the refinery with their respective stakes of 45%, 31% and 24%. These firms have recently asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to present the refinery upgrade project to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for approval, says the Dan Tri report.

If they are given the green light, they would raise the facility’s capacity from 350,000 tons to 400,000 tons a year, and the project would be added to the master plan for Vietnam’s oil and gas industry development by 2025 with a vision to 2035.

In 2011, the Prime Minister issued Decision 49/2011/QD-TTg detailing a roadmap for application of engine exhaust emission standards to manufactured, assembled and imported brand-new cars and motorbikes, lead investor Saison Petro said, adding exhaust gases should meet Euro 4 standards, according to the Dan Tri report.

Therefore, Saison Petro reasoned it is necessary to upgrade the plant to the standards. However, some ministries and agencies have voiced their concern over the upgrade project, proposing the Government take the project into careful consideration.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment said a Saigon Petro project designed to raise the octane index in the naphtha process was approved by the PM in May 2007. However, a report of the company said it had yet to seek a partner to manage the technology, so the project had been delayed as of this August.

The company did not send a proposal to the ministry’s investment registration agency to reschedule the project, the ministry said. Therefore, the project was terminated in line with the 2013 Investment Law.

Having taken Saigon Petro’s documents into account, the ministry backed the refinery’s upgrade to Euro 4 standards but asked whether the project is in accordance with the master plan of HCMC or not.

The Ministries of Science-Technology and Public Securities have asked the investors reconsider the use of technology imported from China. The science ministry noted the investors should use equipment from advanced countries.

SGT