Dung Quat refinery has enough crude oil to operate through July

BSR (Bình Sơn Refinery and Petrochemical Corporation) said the Dung Quất oil refinery has enough crude oil to operate at least until July, after activating an emergency supply plan when Middle East conflict began. The company told shareholders at its annual general meeting on the morning of April 13 that it is ensuring crude availability to run the plant at very high capacity through early July amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and volatile global oil prices.

Emergency crude supply plan through early July

BSR oversees the Dung Quất refinery in Quảng Ngãi province, Vietnam’s first refinery. According to Nguyen Viet Thang, BSR’s general director, the company activated the emergency situation immediately after the Middle East conflict started and modeled market developments under multiple scenarios ranging from a few weeks to half a year.

Thang said BSR is closely tracking these scenarios and securing crude supply to keep the refinery operating at a high capacity through early July. He added that, with support from Petrovietnam (the parent company and largest shareholder), BSR can purchase domestic crude to serve the Dung Quất refinery, which is sufficient to operate at 90% of designed capacity.

Thang also said BSR has recently signed long-term agreements with partners from the United States and West Africa to increase crude supply further.

Revenue, profit and investment targets for 2025

BSR expects consolidated revenue this year to exceed VND 154,000 billion, up 7% from last year. If achieved, the figure would represent the second-highest annual revenue in nearly 20 years of operation, behind 2022’s more than VND 167,000 billion.

The company projects after-tax profit of VND 2,162 billion, roughly three times its initial plan for 2025. However, management noted this would be less than half of last year’s actual results.

BSR plans to spend nearly VND 8,600 billion on investments in 2025, focusing on upgrading and expanding the Dung Quất refinery.

Refinery upgrade timeline and capital structure

Thang said project progress has been delayed due to contractor selection difficulties and rising material costs linked to the war. BSR plans to hand over site clearance to contractors around October. The EPC package is expected to be signed in Q3 this year, with completion expected by late 2028.

BSR has charter capital of VND 50,073 billion. As of March 11, the company had 56,356 shareholders, with Petrovietnam holding 92.13%—the largest stake. Small shareholders collectively hold about 7.9% across tens of thousands of investors.

Delisting risk and proposed ownership reduction

Because Petrovietnam’s stake is very large and small shareholders hold a relatively small portion, BSR does not meet public company criteria under Vietnam’s Securities Law. The rule requires at least 10% of shares to be held by at least 100 investors, otherwise the company faces delisting risk.

At the annual general meeting, BSR chairman Bui Ngoc Duong said Petrovietnam proposed reducing its ownership to 49% so it would not control the company. However, the timeline for implementing the reduction has not been set.

This is viewed as a potential opportunity for BSR to attract strategic investors, particularly regional oil majors. For now, BSR has proposed that the Ministry of Finance and Petrovietnam implement a capital restructuring plan, which could include divestment or transferring shares to strategic shareholders to meet regulatory requirements.