Japan's top refiner JX eyes oil refinery in Vietnam

Japan's top oil refiner JX Holdings Inc. said Monday its subsidiary JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding with state-run Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) to buy its shares and build a new 200,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) oil refinery.
Under the agreement signed Friday in Hanoi, JX is entitled to exclusively talk with Petrolimex, the Vietnam's biggest petroleum products sales firm, on the construction of the refinery in Van Phong economic zone, southern Vietnam, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement.
Currently, Vietnam has a refining capacity of only 150,000 bpd against a demand of 350,000 barrels. Kuwait is also building a 200,000 bpd refinery in northern Vietnam in a joint project with Japanese and Vietnamese partners.