JXTG Holdings Inc. subsidiary JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corp. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) to investigate the possibility of establishing a joint venture company to operate JXTG Nippon O&E’s existing 127,000-b/d Marifu refinery in Iwakuni, Japan.
As part of the MOU signed on Apr. 4, the companies have agreed to carry out a feasibility study on the cooperative project, which would secure future supply sources and outlets for petroleum products in the international petroleum market, JXTG Nippon O&E said.
Scheduled to be completed by April 2019, the feasibility study follows an earlier, unidentified joint study undertaken by the companies on multiple collaborative projects, JXTG Nippon O&E said.
While it disclosed no further details regarding the potential partnership at Marifu, JXTG Nippon said it will continue to pursue a closer cooperative relationship with Petrolimex to develop new collaborative business opportunities.
JXTG Nippon O&E was formed in April 2017 following JX Holdings’s acquisition and subsequent merger of TonenGeneral Sekiyu KK with JX Energy Corp. JX Holdings also changed its trade name to JXTG Holdings on Apr. 1, 2017, according to a Mar. 30, 2017, release from the company.
Marifu refinery
Alongside its nameplate 120,000-b/d crude distillation unit, the Marifu refinery features the following major capacities:
• Vacuum distillation, 75,000 b/d.
• Fluid catalytic cracking, 30,000 b/d.
• Continuous catalytic cracking, 24,000 b/d.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
