Petrovietnam inks Aframaxes

Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (Petrovietnam) has signed a contract with compatriot shipbuilder Vinashin for three 105,000 dwt Aframax tankers to transport crude oil for its first oil refinery at Dung Quat which is due to be operational in 2009.

The three vessels are valued at around $65 million each and the first unit is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008 while the second and third will be handed over in 2009. They will be built at the Dung Quat Shipyard.

The state-owned oil company currently operates only one Aframax vessel, the ?Poseidon M? and the firm has been hiring foreign vessels to transport its crude oil exports as it lacks tankers. Vietnam, despite being Southeast Asia’s third largest crude oil producer after Indonesia and Malaysia with an average 360,000 bpd, exports most of its oil because it has no major refineries.