BSR ready for ownership restructuring

Vietnam’s industrial production index in 2017 grew 9.4 percent compared with 2016. The processing and manufacturing sectors grew 14.5 percent, creating a major driving force for the index growth. What are your views on the impacts of the industrial and processing industry growth?

Vietnam attaches great importance to agricultural development. However, the Vietnamese economy can hardly achieve great progress if it depends heavily on agriculture and services.

The Dung Quat Oil Refinery with total investment of US$2.5 billion has transformed the economy of Quang Ngai Province. Ten, fifteen years ago, Quang Ngai lagged behind most other localities nationwide in economic development. The province has moved ahead to stand among the leading localities nationwide since the refinery commenced operations in 2010.

Quang Ngai sometimes ranked among the top five or six localities nationwide in terms of contribution to the state budget, just behind Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong, and even ahead of Da Nang. This achievement undoubtedly proves the important role of industry, especially the processing industry. Clearly, if industrial development is managed in a transparent manner, it will create a major driving force for economic growth.

Nguyen Hoai Giang, Chairman of the Board of the Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company Limited (BSR)

Oil refining and petrochemicals is a field that requires the application of complicated technologies and automation at a high level. How has BSR prepared to make the most of opportunities from the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Today, you can see our achievements following decades of great efforts. As soon as we took over the refinery from contractors in 2010, we started gearing up for Industry 4.0, including an automated operating system, communications systems, and a computer network for optimizing the refinery’s operations. We have also built a complex software system that works 24 hours per day to analyze market demand and prices.

Thanks to these great efforts, BSR has achieved impressive business results. In 2017, the company created annual revenues of more than VND80 trillion and profits totaling over VND8 trillion, and paid more than VND10 trillion in taxes to the state budget.

What is the most important factor in BSR’s success?

Human resources are the most important factor in our success. The quality of human resources decides whether we can catch up with global trends and make the most of opportunities from Industry 4.0.

At the Dung Quat Oil Refinery, we have created a comfortable and transparent working environment for staff members to bring into full play their creativity. We appreciate and reward them for their contributions to the company’s development. On average, each of our staff members produces 4,000 tonnes of products and generates revenue of more than VND50 billion and profits of over VND5 billion, and pays taxes of nearly VND7 billion per year.

We have built a strong staff, and with high enthusiasm and solidarity, our staff members are always willing to make joint efforts to contribute to the company’s development and help it overcome difficulties.

BSR has achieved encouraging business results in recent years. Could you share the company’s strategy to achieve sustainable growth in the future?

Ten years ago, the Dung Quat Oil Refinery commenced operations with numerous difficulties. We have overcome these challenges to maintain its smooth operations. Today, we still have to cope with new difficulties related to the market, international integration and competition. To achieve sustainable growth, we will continue strengthening our human resources, including young and enthusiastic workers and experienced managers. This is an important factor helping the Dung Quat Oil Refinery maintain effective operations and improving its adaptability to market and policy changes.

BSR is preparing for a public offering of its shares. The state’s leadership will decrease in direct proportion to the amount of shares sold. Do you worry about this?

Three to five years ago, the government allowed the Dung Quat Oil Refinery to sell not more than 49 percent of its shares to the public. Sometimes the limit was even lower, 35 percent. Today, the government has increased this to 65 percent. For our part, we are willing to accept privatization at the rate of 100 percent by selling the refinery’s shares to large, experienced investors in the field of oil refining and petrochemicals. We believe if BSR is equitized this way, it can contribute more to the economy.

The equitization of the Dung Quat Oil Refinery will generate resources for us to invest in new projects to build a chain of oil refining and petrochemical facilities. These complexes will generate multiple benefits for the economy and the whole country.

What will BSR have to offer investors in the future?

BSR’s current situation is very good. Since it put the Dung Quat Oil Refinery into operation in 2010, the company has contributed more than US$7 billion to the state budget, based on initial capital of US$2.5 billion.

BSR’s future depends on the equitization and upgrading of the refinery. Equitization will generate additional financial resources for us to optimize production and business results and enhance our competitiveness.