Vietnam’s Binh Son refinery to delay maintenance

Vietnam’s Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical plans to delay maintenance at its refinery until next year on expectations of lower profits due to rising cost, said the Vietnamese refiner mid-April.

The decision is due to the company expecting profits to drop by 88% this year due to rising costs including higher taxes, and this delay will allow the company to “maximize its production, revenue and profit” this year.

The refinery, which produces up to 130,000 barrels/day was originally slated to undergo major turnarounds from June 22 to August 11 this year, but this has been shelved in favour of early next year. The company didn’t specify the exact dates.

Binh Son’s net profit is forecast to dive this year to 1.72 trillion dong ($73.38 million) from 14.67 trillion dong last year, the company said.

It is also subject to higher corporate income tax of 10% this year, compared with 5% last year.

The refinery also rolled out a plan earlier in 2022 to upgrade and expand its Dung Quat refinery, raising processing capacity to 7.6million mt from 6.5 million mt/year. This costs an estimated $1.2billion and is expected to be completed by end 2025.

The company also cited rising global inflation as a factor as it supports inflation in Vietnam, which relies heavily on imported materials and raises operation costs. Vietnam’s total crude oil imports in the first quarter rose 55% from a year earlier to 2.7 million mt.