French consortium wins Vietnam contract

French consortium wins Vietnam contract

HANOI: A consortium led by France's Technip-Coflexip has won a
US$700-$800 million contract to build Vietnam's first oil
refinery, state-owned PetroVietnam said Monday.

The consortium, which also includes Japan's JGC Corp and
Spain's Technicas Reunidas, saw off a rival consortium led by
South Korea's Samsung Engineering just as Prime Minister Lee Han-
Dong launched an official visit to Vietnam in which he had been
expected to lobby for the South Korean bid.

The French firm's Technip Malaysia subsidiary will take the
lead in the huge contract which includes all the design
consultancy, procurement and construction work for the $1.3
billion refinery, planning director Tran Quoc Hung told AFP.

The only parts of the project excluded from the contract are
some $350 million in associated infrastructure, most of which has
already been awarded, and two further contracts worth a total of
$200 million for crude and refined product storage. -- AFP