PetroVietnam (PV Oil) and a few other companies plan to develop at least 3 new ethanol production facilities in different parts of Vietnam. The plants will be set up in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, the northern province of Phu Tho, and at Dung Quat in the central province of Quang Ngai. PV Oil will develop the facilities in the northern and southern provinces. The project in central Vietnam will be developed jointly by Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of PV Oil, and Petro Vietnam Tourism and Service Co. Each plant has been designed to have a production capacity of 100 million liters of ethanol per year. The project in Phu Tho is expected to start very soon as the feasibility report for the plant has already been received. The petroleum-processing and biofuel division of PV Oil has indicated that the project should be completed in 20 months and be ready for commissioning by the end of 2010. The Binh Phuoc project is currently awaiting investment, while the Quang Ngai project is scheduled for development after the completion of the Phu Tho project. The ethanol produced in the plants will be blended with gasoline and diesel to produce E5 gasoline and B5 diesel, both of which contain 5% ethanol. At present, gasoline ethanol is being tested on 100 taxis in Hanoi. The biofuel is expected to be commercially available from 2010.
