Delivering this announcement during the West Pacific gas industry’s 10 th conference-cum-exhibition that took place recently, PetroVietnam’s General Director Tran Ngoc Canh stressed that the percentage of stocks to be sold may be increased in special cases.

As well as Dung Quat, the country’s first oil refinery, currently being built in the central province of Quang Ngai and scheduled for completion in February 2009, PetroVietnam has plans to build two other plants.

One of these two, with an estimated output capacity of 200,000 barrels a day and investment capital of 6 billion USD, is to be built in the central province of Thanh Hoa in a joint venture with the Kuwait international oil and gas group and the Idemitsu Kosan group of Japan .

The other, also with a production capacity of 200,000 barrels a day, is scheduled to be built in the southern region, the country’s largest consumer centre. The project is still at the discussion stag with foreign partners, including the Venezuelan National Oil and Gas Group.

Despite being the third-largest producer of crude oil in Southeast Asia with an average output of 300,000 barrels a day, Vietnam still has to import petroleum due to lack of oil refineries.

According to PetroVietnam, the country will need to buy approximately 26.5 tonnes of crude oil to supply the three refineries when they are operational.

Currently, BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, as well as a number of companies from Venezuela and the Middle East are in a race to become a supplier of crude oil to Vietnam .

Once operational, these three oil refineries will help the country to reduce its import and trade deficit.