VietNamNet Bridge - Thureign Augn has been introduced by Thai PTT Group, the investor of the $27 billion Nhon Hoi oil refinery in the central province of Binh Dinh, Vietnam, as a member of Arab royal family, billionaire and a potential investor of the project.

At the project launching ceremony held on August 15, the Thai oil and gas group introduced to the public an investor, who is willing to contribute capital to the mammoth project – the Member of the Royal Family, Arab billionaire, Thureign Augn.

Speaking at the ceremony, the billionaire stated that he has been invited to join the project and he has committed to make investment in it, because he can see the great potentials of the oil refinery complex in the near future.

Besides the appellations of royal and billionaire, the potential investor was also introduced as the president of a bank named Hypo Commerce Bank.

Chair of the Binh Dinh provincial People’s Committee Le Huu Loc confirmed that Augn is an Arab billionaire, who is “not only has strong financial capability, but also has good experiences in the petrochemical and oil refinery.”

Loc also said that the businessman is a strategic partner of the Thai Khang Thong Group, a big investor in the Nhon Hoi Economic Zone.

Khang Thong itself also intends to join the $27 billion oil refinery project by contributing 600 hectares of the clean land in the industrial zone. The group has been known for the Happy Land amusement park project, capitalized at $2 billion, which started two years ago. Happy Land once invited the father of Michael Jackson to join the project as an investor. However, he finally decided to quit the project.

People have got curious about the billionaire after he presented himself before the public. While he has been introduced stately by both the Vietnamese local authorities and the Thai investor, the information about him has not been found on mass media.

The name of the billionaire cannot be found in the list of the members of the Saudi Arabian royal family. The name seems to be quite different from that of other members of the royal family. Therefore, the name and the financial capability of the investor remain enigmatic.

The public always keeps a doubtful eye on the feasibility of the gigantic project, which needs a huge sum of capital of $27 billion. This had been the hot topic of a lot of discussions over the last many months until the day PTT proved that a lot of international partners expressed their interest in the project.

Binh Dinh province’s Chair said he has confidence in the investor’s capability of implementing projects. He said the local authorities have found that PTT has a solid foundation in petrochemical and petroleum production and trade. PTT’s projects have the refinery capacity of over 1 million barrels a day and 13.5 million tons of olefins and other downstream products.

Besides, PTT also has a marketing and sale company, which operates in over 80 countries in the world.

The Thai investor committed to contribute 40 percent of the total investment capital of the Nhon Hoi Complex, capitalized at between $25 billion and $30 billion. The investor would call for the remaining capital from the investors from the Middle East, South Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

VNE