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), 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)