The $2.5 billion, 7 million-ton complex will be built in Nghi Son commune in the northern Thanh Hoa province.

Once operational, the plant will produce liquefied petroleum gas, petrol, kerosene, diesel, jet fuel and other petrochemical products, PetroVietnam Chairman Dinh La Thang said.

Other PetroVietnam projects have progressed in the first quarter of this year, including the 750-megawatt Ca Mau 1 Electricity Plant, which began generating electricity for commercial use at the end of March. Work on the Phu My-Nhon Trach gas pipeline, which will have an annual capacity of 2 billion cubic meters, is close to completion, and the Dung Quat oil refinery project is expected to begin turning out products in February 2009.

Additionally, PetroVietnam has signed three oil and gas exploration contracts in Tunisia, Laos and Iran.