Russia Out Of Vietnam Refinery Project

During the Vietnam-Russia intergovernmental commission meeting in Hanoi, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko and his counterpart Vu Khoan have agreed that Russia will no longer be a partner to a joint venture to build the $1.3 billion oil refinery in central Vietnam.

State oil monopoly Petrovietnam and state-run Zarubezhneft were the partners in the 50-50 VietRoss venture to build the Dung Quat refinery, but industry officials have said the venture faced many unresolved issues that have delayed the project. In October, Petrovietnam told Reuters operations at the Dung Quat refinery would start in mid-2005 instead of next year.

Last month Petrovietnam chairman Pham Quang Du was quoted by state-run media as saying Vietnam had decided to "self-support" the project for completion in 2005 and operations in 2006.