Vietnam's Petrosetco, UK firm plan ethanol plant

HANOI, March 13 (Reuters) - The service arm of state-run Petrovietnam is in talks with Britain's Bronzeoak Group to invest $138 million in an ethanol plant in central Vietnam.

The plant will have a capacity of 150 million litres of ethanol per year, using tapioca as the main feedstock, a spokeswoman for Ho Chi Minh City-based Petrosetco PET.HM said on Thursday.

Two Petrosetco ethanol plants are planned, one with the British company and the other with Japan's Itochu Corp (8001.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which would be Vietnam's first.

"We have signed a memorandum of understanding with Bronzeoak and are in talks over details of the cooperation," the Petrosetco spokeswoman said.

She said the company is also finalising talks with Itochu for a $100 million ethanol plant in Ho Chi Minh City. (Reporting by Nguyen Nhat Lam; Editing by Ben Tan)