Vietnam's Nghi Son refinery secures crude supplies through November, mostly from Kuwait (updated)

Idemitsu Kosan

02/10/2026 04:41

Adds executive's comment on oil reserves, expected petroleum output in fourth quarter
HANOI, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Vietnam's largest oil refinery, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical LLC, known as NSRP, has secured enough crude oil, mostly from Kuwait, to operate at 125% of its designed capacity through to the end of November, General Manager Le Nguyen Quoc Vinh said. 
The 200,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Thanh Hoa province suffered supply disruptions in March and April due to the Iran war, but has since diversified its supplies, Vinh told Reuters, adding that 75% of the new cargoes will now be sourced from Kuwait.
"We have been running at 125% of designed capacity since July to meet domestic demand for fuels," Vinh said.
NSRP was originally designed to process crude oil only from Kuwait but it can now process 10 types of crude oil, he said. The refinery tried processing WTI crude oil from the US, but Vinh said it was too light and so NSRP has stopped importing it.
Vinh said NSRP, along with Petrovietnam Refining and Petrochemical Corp (BSR.HM), can fully meet Vietnamese demand for jet fuel. He said the suspension of oil product exports in October by Chinese refineries should not impact Vietnam's aviation sector.
Another official at the refinery said on Friday the plant would be shut for about 50 days for scheduled maintenance from August next year, part of a routine overhaul carried out every four years. NSRP is in the process of selecting a contractor to carry out the maintenance.
Kazutaka Yamato, NSRP General Director, told a press conference on Friday that the refinery is ready to work with the government to expand oil reserve capacity, which he said was as low as 20 days right now.
He also said the refinery was seeking partners to provide funding for its possible expansion by 2031.
Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co 5019.T and Kuwait Petroleum both hold 35.1% stakes in NSRP, with 25.1% held by Petrovietnam and 4.7% belonging to Mitsui Chemicals Inc 4183.T.
NSRP said it expects to supply 2.69 million tons of petroleum products to the local market in the fourth quarter this year, raising its total 2026 product supply to over 9.2 million tons. 
Vietnam's crude oil imports in the first eight months of this year fell 10.8% from a year earlier to 8.31 million metric tons, according to customs data.
Last year, crude oil imports from Kuwait accounted for 80% of Vietnam's total crude oil imports of over 14 million tons. Shipments from Kuwait in the first eight months of 2026 were just 2.8 million tons, a 64% decline from a year earlier, the data showed.
Crude oil imports from Kuwait fell to zero from April through July this year, the data showed, as Vietnam ramped up imports from other markets such as Oman, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Iraq, Angola and the Republic of Congo. 

(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by John Mair)
((khanh.vu@thomsonreuters.com; +84 24 38259623;))