The Vung Tau refinery is one of three being envisaged by the Vietnam government to ensure that the SE Asian country can utilise some of the 17 million tons of crude it exports per annum, some of which is imported again to meet local demand.

According to an unnamed PetroVietnam official, "The refinery will have a processing capacity of about 8 million metric tons of crude oil a year."

"Under the government's current development plans for the oil and gas industry, PetroVietnam has a task to prepare to build three oil refineries, but we will need to carry more studies before concluding when to build them," added the official.