HANOI - Vietnam's Nghi Son oil refinery has resumed normal operations after its gasoline production was disrupted more than a month ago due to a power outage, a company spokesman said on Thursday.
"It was the outage that caused the problem from late February, but the refinery is operating normally now," said the spokesman, who did not want to be identified because of company policy.
A second source with the Vietnamese government confirmed the disruption, adding that the impact of the incident was limited by the refinery's gasoline inventory.
The refinery, which started commercial production from last year, has offered a jet fuel cargo for export via a tender for loading from April 29 to 30, two other sources said on Thursday.
The $9 billion refinery, located 260 km (160 miles) south of Hanoi, is 35.1 percent owned by Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co, 35.1 percent by Kuwait Petroleum IPO, 25.1 percent by PetroVietnam and 4.7 percent by Mitsui Chemicals Inc.
Vietnam's refined oil product imports in the first quarter were estimated at 2 million tonnes, down 42.6 percent from the same period last year, while the value of its product imports fell 47.6 percent to $1.17 billion.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu; editing by Christian Schmollinger) ((khanh.vu@thomsonreuters.com; +84 24 38259623; Reuters Messaging: khanh.vu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
