In its recent report to the government, managers of Nghi Son in the central province of Thanh Hoa said they might have to shut down the plant in February if its financial challenges are not resolved.

The plant does not have enough cash to import crude oil from Kuwait and imports ceased about a week ago, Bloomberg reported, citing additional insiders.

Tran Duy Dong, deputy head of domestic markets under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said the plant needs to resolve its issues to prevent a production stoppage, which would affect domestic supply.

Nghi Son Oil Refinery has a capacity of 200,000 crude oil barrels a day, or 10 million tons a year, which is twice that of Dung Quat Oil Refinery in Quang Ngai Province.

State-owned fuel company Petrovietnam has a 25.1 percent stake in the plant, while the rest are owned by three foreign firms: Kuwait Petroleum International (35.1 percent and Japanese companies Idemitsu Kosan (35.1 percent) and Mitsui Chemicals (4.7 percent).

Source: VNE