Vietnam’s Binh Dinh province has scrapped a plan to build a $20 billion refinery and petrochemical complex with Thai oil company PTT, according to various media reports.

The project, which was expected to house a 400,000 barrel-per-day refinery and an olefins and aromatics plant with an annual output of 5 million tonnes, was supposed to begin construction this year and slated to start up in 2021.

Thailand’s state-controlled firm PTT had been looking at the possibility of investing in central Vietnam for more than four years. It had also aimed to partner with Saudi Arabian oil giant Saudi Aramco.

But Saudi Aramco pulled out of the prospective joint venture with PTT earlier this month, while the Thai firm transferred the project to its 38.5%-owned affiliate IRPC.

– with other agencies