Vietnam has learned a lesson from its first oil refinery and will build future facilities that are larger and more efficient, the chairman of PetroVietnam was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Early last year the country's first refinery opened at Dung Quat, in central Vietnam, with a capacity of 6.5 million tonnes (7.15 million tons) a year or 148,000 barrels per day.
Investing in future refineries with such a small capacity would be inefficient, the state Vietnam News quoted Dinh La Thang, chairman of PetroVietnam, as saying.
"This is the lesson drawn from Dung Quat," Thang said, adding that two planned refineries would have annual capacities of 10 million tonnes of oil.
PetroVietnam confirmed the comments to AFP.
Until Dung Quat opened at a cost of more than 2.5 billion dollars, fast-developing Vietnam imported all of the refined petroleum products needed for domestic use.
PetroVietnam, the trading name of the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group, on Tuesday said its revenues last year amounted to 16 percent of the country's economic output, down from 20 percent a year earlier.
Vietnam boasts rich offshore oil reserves located in the East Sea where PetroVietnam, together with Russian and other foreign partners, exploits several major fields.
