News Post

(Reuters) The construction of Vietnam's second oil refinery, the $7.5 B Nghi Son plant, is falling behind schedule, the government said, extending the country's reliance on imported products in 2017.

Test runs of the 200 Mbpd refinery, scheduled for November 2016, would be delayed by about four months, according to state oil group PetroVietnam.

The Nghi Son plant, initially slated to start operations in July 2017, will refine Kuwaiti crude to make liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel among other products mainly used for domestic markets.

Vietnam's existing Dung Quat refinery meets about 30% of domestic demand.

Senior government and PetroVietnam officials met on Tuesday to tackle issues surrounding the constructionof the refinery, the government report said, without elaborating.

Japan's Idemitsu Kosan and Kuwait Petroleum International each own 35.1% of the facility, while PetroVietnam has 25.1% and Mitsui Chemicals 4.7%.

Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Richard Pullin