Vietnam's Binh Dinh province has scrapped a $20 billion refinery and petrochemicals plant with Thai oil company PTT due to delays in getting construction of the project going, a provincial industry official said on Tuesday.

State-controlled PTT had said last month it would postpone the project and re-assess it later in the year, citing political changes in Vietnam and uncertainty in global oil markets.

"The project has taken too much time to implement," said Nguyen Ngoc Toan, deputy head of the Binh Dinh's economic zone management, told Reuters, adding the decision was announced at a recent meeting of provincial officials.

PTT had studied the possibility of investing in central Vietnam for more than four years and had aimed to start construction this year in partnership with Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer.

The development plan included a 400,000 barrel-per-day refinery and an olefins and aromatics petrochemical plant with an annual output of 5 million tonnes.