>> Oil refinery to halt operations, adding to petrol shortage

>> PM cuts ribbon for Dung Quat oil refinery

After a halt of nearly two weeks for equipment checks, Dung Quat oil refinery has resumed operations since April 2.

An overview of Dung Quat oil refinery

The resumption of the plant, the first of its kind in Vietnam, is expected to spur domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and petroleum supply and help ease price rises.

It had been estimated that domestic petroleum supply might go down by 400,000 tonnes during the suspension.

Nguyen Hoai Giang, General Director of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd (BSR), the facility’s operator, said a maintenance contract worth USD25 million in total has been signed with South Korean contractors Jcon, Dong-II, Ubec, and Deachang.

Maintenance at the plant, located in the central province of Quang Ngai, is scheduled to last from July to September this year, he added.

For over the past week, the Vietnamese market has seen a spike in the price of petroleum, together with two increases in the gas prices.

On March 29, petroleum prices were increased by between 10.36% and 15.3% on various petroleum products, bringing the price of 92 octane fuel to VND21,300 per litre.

In the meantime, gas traders raised prices by an additional VND5,000 per tank beginning April 1, which came on the heals of a rise of VND14,000 (USD0.66) per tank on March 26. This has brought prices for the product to VND348,000 (USD16.44) per 12-kg tank.