Thousands of officials, engineers and specialists who have been working on the refinery for 44 months did not hide their emotions when the crude distillation unit – the most important facility of the refinery – began to operate on February 9.

More than 700 engineers and specialists are now keeping a close eye on the unit’s operation to ensure the first “Made-in-Vietnam” oil products will come out on time.

“We are proud to be producing the first drops of Vietnamese oil,” says engineer Nguyen Don Liem, who was assigned to operate the unit. “We are all anxiously counting down the days to when the refinery begins to operate. The decade-long awaited dream will come true in just over a week’s time.”

About 90,000 barrels of crude oil are being filtered and distilled in the unit to generate diesel and kerosene – the first two products.

“The unit has been working properly since it was launched,” says Venkateban, a supervisor for the Japanese contractor, Technip. “Some minor issues arose, but we have already settled them. If nothing unusual happens, the first oil products will come out in several days.”

At the control centre, hundreds of domestic and foreign engineers and specialists are glued to dozens of computer screens sorting out the technical aspects of the unit’s automatic operations.

“Our top priority is to ensure the refinery operates smoothly. We will work to keep it running under any circumstances, no matter if the reasons are technical or commercial,” says Nguyen Van Hoi, deputy head of the project management unit.

A ceremony will be held at 19.00 on February 22 to welcome the first oil products. In April, the refinery is scheduled to churn out other products such as A90, A92, A95 petrol and aeroplane fuel. In late June, all 14 units of the refinery will be operating at full steam.

The Vietnam National Petroleum Corporation (Petrolimex) will distribute the refinery’s products in its first phase.