HANOI, Vietnam—State-owned Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam, has awarded two Chinese firms a contract to build a US$900-million fertilizer plant to ease the Southeast Asian country's dependence on fertilizer imports, an official said Wednesday.
Wuhuan Engineering Co. Ltd. and China National Machinery Imports and Exports Corp. will use equipment from Germany, Denmark and Japan for the plant, said Nguyen Hoang Yen, a PetroVietnam spokeswoman.
The plant, located in the southernmost province of Ca Mau, will produce 800,000 metric tons of fertilizer a year when completed in four years, she said. That will make it the country's largest fertilizer plant to date, she added.
PetroVietnam currently operates the Phu My fertilizer plant, with an annual capacity of 740,000 metric tons, in southern Ba Ria Vung Tau province.
Ca Mau is about 280 kilometers (175 miles) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City.
"The plant will use gas from a field off the southern coast and when completed it will help to ease the country's dependence on fertilizer imports," she said.
Vietnam, the world's second largest rice exporter behind Thailand, imported 3.8 million metric tons of fertilizer last year, up 21 percent from the previous year, according to government figures.
