Singapore, 27 July (Argus) — Vietnam's state-owned oil firm PetroVietnam has signed deals with BP and its Azeri counterpart Socar to import foreign crude for the first time for the 145,000 b/d Dung Quat refinery.

Socar will supply Azeri Light crude, with a 400,000 bl cargo heading to Vietnam in mid-August. BP will supply Malaysian grade Miri to Dung Quat, with a cargo heading to Vietnam in end-August/early September. Azeri Light and Miri are both light sweet crudes, with high middle distillates yield.

It is unclear if PetroVietnam has signed term contracts with Socar and BP, or if the initial Azeri Light and Miri cargoes will be the start of further imports.

Dung Quat, the country's only large-scale refinery, has been refining solely Vietnamese Bach Ho crude since it started operations in February last year. Technical problems forced the refinery to run at a low throughput most of last year, although run rates have risen to around 90pc capacity in the past few months. Concerns about declining Bach Ho production are likely to have prompted PetroVietnam to consider foreign crude imports.

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