Overview of the ceremony.

The ceremony saw the attendance of H.E Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Politburo member, Prime Minister of Vietnam; Former Presidents Tran Duc Luong and Truong Tan Sang; Former Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung; other Politburo members inclusive of Tran Quoc Vuong, standing member of Party Central Committee’s Secretariat, Pham Minh Chinh, Head of the PCC Organization Commission, Nguyen Van Binh, Head of PCC Economic Commission; other former Politburo members, PCC members, leaders of central ministries; Vietnamese Fatherland Front and Assembly commissions; Representatives of Military Region 4 and neighboring provinces. There were Mr. Motoo Hayashi, Acting Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan; Ambassador of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan in Vietnam and other Japanese guests from Japan. There was Mr. Van Xay Pheng Xum Ma, Member of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Secretary and Chairman of Houaphanh province from Lao PDR. There were Mr. Nabil Bourisli, President cum CEO of Kuwait Petroleum International and other guests and partners from Kuwait.

From Thanh Hoa province, there were Mr. Trinh Van Chien, member of the Party Central Committee, Provincial Party Secretary cum Chairman of the Provincial People’s Council; Mr. Do Trong Hung, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee cum Head of the Delegation of National Assembly deputies of Thanh Hoa province; Mr. Nguyen Dinh Xung, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee cum Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; Mr. Do Minh Tuan, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; other members of Standing Committees of Provincial People’s Council, Provincial People’s Committee and Provincial Vietnamese Fatherland Front; former provincial leaders; leaders of related departments, agencies and organizations, cities, town and districts.

Party General Secretary, President Nguyen Phu Trong; Former Party General Secretaries Le Kha Phieu and Nong Duc Manh; Former President Nguyen Minh Triet; Former Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung; Former Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Van An; Former Chairman of Hanoi City People’s Committee Pham Quang Nghi and Chief Justice of Supreme People’s Court Nguyen Hoa Binh also sent the compliments to NSRP.

Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex was issued Investment Registration Certificate in April, 2008 with total registered capital of over 9 billion USD financed by the sponsors of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (25.1%), Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd (35.1%) and Mitsui Chemical, Inc. (4.7%) from Japan; and Kuwait Petroleum Europe B.V. (KPE) (35.1%). The complex started construction on 23rd October 2013 and approved the mechanical completion certificate in April, 2017, then has processed crude oil since this March. In this June, all technology workshops have been run successfully according to the process. The complex’s processing capacity is gradually lifted up to designed capacity to prepare for technical inspections in each technology workshop and the whole complex. NSRP completed the overall technical inspections on 3rd November 2018 and received the initial acceptance notice from EPC contractor on 14th November 2018. By December 2018, the complex has processed approx. 5 million tonnes of crude oil and exported over 3 million tonnes of products which contribute more than 8,000 billion VND to local budget of Thanh Hoa province.

The Provincial Party Secretary, Chairman of People’s Council Trinh Van Chien delivered speech at the ceremony. (Image: Minh Hieu)

In the ceremony, the Provincial Party Secretary, Chairman of People’s Council Trinh Van Chien noted that Thanh Hoa province gained a breakthrough development in many sectors in 2018. Most of provincial socio-economic criteria were reached and exceeded. The GRDP growth rate reached 15.16% which is the highest rate so far and helps Thanh Hoa to be listed among provinces with the highest GRDP growth rate in Vietnam. The manufacturing sector developed strongly, particularly in industry which increased by 34.2% in comparison with the same period and was the highest production value so far. These remarkable and comprehensive achievements are greatly contributed by NSRP complex through its investment activities, civil engineering, services and especially its first commercial products after trial run and commercial operation. This is one of the largest-ever foreign investments located in Nghi Son key economic zone, Thanh Hoa province. It symbolizes the good, effective and sustainable cooperation relationship between Thanh Hoa province and the sponsors from Japan and Kuwait. The Provincial Party Secretary emphasized that this event was not only greatly important to local party, government and people of Thanh Hoa province, but also to the whole country. On behalf of Thanh Hoa local party, government and people, the Provincial Party Secretary conveyed the sincere gratitude to the kind leadership and instructions, the great support and assistance of PCC, National Assembly, Government, and some individual leaders of PCC, government and central ministries to the NSRP complex in particularly, and to all the works of Thanh Hoa province over the past few years to achieve the comprehensive results today.

The Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered speech at the ceremony

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his pleasure to the attendance of many delegates in the ceremony, particularly those from the sponsors’ countries. The Prime Minister highly appreciated the cooperation and efforts of the international investors, central ministries and Thanh Hoa province to overcome difficulties over the past years. He emphasized that all parties had worked closely and scientifically to complete the huge workload of almost 20-million safe working hours so that the NSRP complex passed the trial run, began its commercial operation and released the commercial products. This is the symbol of international cooperation between Vietnam and Japan, Kuwait as well as other investors and international financial organizations. As of project contribution, he said that the commercial operation of NSRP complex was significantly meaningful to the national development in terms of politics, society and economy, national security and defense and contributes to the national energy security. The products supplied by NSRP complex with processing capacity of 10 million tonnes of crude oil per year and the operating Dung Quat Refinery Plant will meet over 80 percent of oil and gas demand in the domestic market and reduce the Vietnam’s dependence on imports from other international markets. The successful construction of Dung Quat Refinery Plant in the past and NSRP today showed that the Vietnamese staff, engineers and technical workers have gradually mastered technology and improved their skills to take responsibilities of operation and maintenance for the two plants.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister requested NSRP to continue the achieved results and focus on good management and operation to secure its safe, stable operation and its product quality, and to avoid any arising technical errors during its operation. The complex should also obey all environmental protection regulations and complete the procedures on pre-acceptance of construction works as regulated by laws. He asked Ministry of Industry and Trade, Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises (CMSC) and the State Council for Pre-acceptance of construction works to give directions and instructions to NSRP so that it can continue the completion of dossiers and inspect the project according to Vietnam’s construction laws, to secure the absolutely safe operation of the complex, the environmental protection and firefighting issues, and to achieve the complex’s highest efficiency. He encouraged Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) to utilize its valuable experiences in construction and operation of Dung Quat Refinery Plant and now NSRP complex, to continue its successful implementation of other future national key oil and gas projects which would contribute more to the national energy security. With Thanh Hoa province, the Prime Minister showed that the operation of NSRP would be the new advantage and opportunity to the development of the province and the North Central region. He requested the related central ministries to review and supplement the provincial master plans and plans of comprehensive socio-economic development to facilitate the attraction of investment resources locally and internationally. It would help create new dynamism and strengths to boost Thanh Hoa province to be a center of economy, industry, commerce and services of the North Central region and contribute more to the rapid and sustainable development of the region and the country.

The Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other delegates announced the commercial operation of the NSRP complex at the ceremony.

The Prime Minister requested Thanh Hoa province, PetroVietnam, Management Board of Nghi Son economic zone and industrial zones in Thanh Hoa province and NSRP to jointly take continued responsibilities of job creation and livelihood improvement for local people, particularly those resettled to new places to hand over the construction site for NSRP project in the coming time.

The Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other delegates announced the commercial operation of the NSRP complex at the ceremony./.