Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits Al-zour Petrochemical Complex and works with Kuwait Fund

Photo caption — Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits the Al-Zour Petrochemical Complex. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Al-Zour Refinery and Petrochemical Complex is a strategic refinery complex of Kuwait, considered one of the largest and most modern refineries in the Middle East; the second largest in the region and among the global Top 10 in terms of refining capacity.

The complex started preparatory work in 2015, began construction in 2017 and officially went into commercial operation in late 2022. The project has a total investment of about 27 billion USD. The complex has a designed capacity of 615,000 barrels/day, contributing about 43.5% of Kuwait's domestic oil refining capacity. Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation is currently the unit managing and operating the complex.

The Al-Zour Refinery and Petrochemical Complex is built and developed on an area of approximately 16 square kilometers, with many main processing units, an artificial island for product storage with a capacity of approximately 5.6 million barrels and an export terminal system. In addition to its fuel and petrochemical production functions, the Al-Zour Refinery and Petrochemical Complex is also a symbol of Kuwait's strategic direction in the "Kuwait Vision 2035" program, transforming from only oil exploitation to comprehensive development of the processing system, enhancing domestic value, while complying with advanced environmental standards.

The Al-Zour refinery and petrochemical complex is highly flexible as it is designed to process a variety of Kuwaiti crude grades, including Kuwait Heavy Crude (KHC). The complex primarily supplies clean fuel oil to power plants; and expansion to full conversion is considered a suitable option.

Previously, during the talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Prime Minister of Kuwait, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation in the oil and gas sector, including promoting the expansion of the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Project. At the same time, Vietnam is ready to provide oil and gas services and supply high-quality human resources for projects in Kuwait, expanding cooperation to a number of new projects, especially the construction of a petroleum storage and transit project in the Vietnam region.

Visiting the Al-Zour Petrochemical Complex, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hoped that Kuwait National Petroleum Corporation would share its experience, technology, management and investment cooperation in Vietnam in the oil and gas sector, including petrochemical refining, warehousing and distribution; especially large petrochemical refining projects in Vietnam, developing trade cooperation in the field of oil, gas, and petrochemical products such as crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas, and other petroleum products...

Previously, on the afternoon of November 16, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited the Arab Cultural Heritage Building and there worked with Director General Waleed AL-Bahar and associates of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

The Prime Minister highly appreciated KFAED's effective support in Vietnam, with the provision of preferential and non-refundable loans to 15 projects in localities with a total value of over 183 million USD, contributing to the completion of essential infrastructure, social security, climate change response, and improving people's lives, especially in remote and isolated areas.

The Prime Minister said that during his visit to Kuwait, the leaders of Vietnam and Kuwait agreed to upgrade the relationship to a Strategic Partnership, opening a solid foundation for deeper and more substantial cooperation between the two countries in the coming period. The Prime Minister asked KFAED to continue supporting Vietnam in the fields of social security, rural development, water supply, sanitation, healthcare, education, infrastructure to adapt to climate change and overcome the consequences of natural disasters, etc.

Sharing about Vietnam's two 100-year strategic goals, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that Vietnam is determined to develop rapidly but sustainably; based on science, technology, innovation, digital transformation; developing green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy, including emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips, Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing, biotechnology, marine economy...

To facilitate development, Vietnam is implementing three strategic breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure, and human resources in the direction of open institutions, transparent infrastructure, and smart human resources and governance. In particular, many projects are being implemented to change the situation and status such as: expressways; high-speed railways, urban railways, international standard gauge railways; large-scale seaports and airports; energy projects, including nuclear energy, wind and solar energy; construction of an International Financial Center in Vietnam...

The Prime Minister proposed that with its potential, KFAED invest directly and indirectly in projects and fields that Vietnam is prioritizing as mentioned above; at the same time, connect and introduce Kuwaiti enterprises to study investment opportunities in Vietnam in potential fields such as industry-logistics, renewable energy, green economy and Halal ecosystem, and support Vietnamese enterprises to access information and cooperation opportunities in Kuwait and the Middle East region.

Proposing that KFAED support Vietnam in finance, technology, human resource training, and management science, the Prime Minister hoped that the two sides would establish a Joint Working Group to introduce potentials, needs, processes, and procedures in the direction of harmonizing processes, simplifying procedures, and establishing cooperation and investment projects; at the same time, jointly implement each step from small to large, from simple to complex; affirming that Vietnam is ready to act as a bridge for KFAED to access the ASEAN market and neighboring countries...

Director General of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development Waleed AL-Bahar and the Fund's associates highly appreciated the socio-economic development process in recent times, as well as the investment and business environment and strategies and steps of Vietnam in national development in the coming time.

Highly agreeing with the Prime Minister's opinion on establishing a Joint Working Group to promote cooperation and investment, KFAED leaders also proposed promoting public-private cooperation and new cooperation mechanisms and models. KFAED expressed interest in programs and projects in priority areas of Vietnam, and requested the Government and Prime Minister to continue to pay attention and create favorable conditions to promote cooperation between the parties through specific projects.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/thu-tuong-pham-minh-chinh-tham-to-hop-loc-hoa-dau-alzour-va-lam-viec-voi-quy-kuwait-20251117213804807.htm