HANOI, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Operator of the Vietnamese Dung Quat Refinery has sent letters of invitation to 15 investment funds locally and overseas, calling them to buy shares at the oil plant.

According to Dung Quat Oil Refinery's owner, the state-run oil giant PetroVietnam (PVN), shares of the country's largest oil refinery will be officially offered to the public by the end of this year.

The privatization is set to mobilize capital for strategic projects in the future, improving transparency and shareholders' benefits, PVN said on Tuesday.

In the first quarter of 2017, the Dung Quat Oil Refinery earned some 80.4 million U.S. dollars in after-tax profit, achieving 30 percent of its annual target.

The three-billion plant Dung Quat Oil Refinery went into operation in 2009 with designed capacity of 6.5 million tons of crude oil annually or 130,500 barrels per day.