Kuwait Petroleum International (KPI) and its joint venture partners have awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the massive $9 billion refinery and petrochemical complex coming up in northern Vietnam, state news agency Kuna reported.

KPI, the international marketing arm of top energy conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, had established the joint venture in 2008 with PetroVietnam, Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Company and Mitsui Chemicals.

The Nghi Son Petrochemical Refinery Complex, to be built 180 km south of capital Hanoi, is Vietnam's second refinery and the first one with foreign investors' participation, said the report.

The refinery will have an oil processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) when operational in 2017, the report stated.

The capacity would be doubled in the second phase if justified by strong demand, said the news agency citing a KPC official.

The joint venture will possibly double the volume to 400,000 bpd after the project is expanded in the second phase, he added.