LNG

Marubeni Corp. is pushing forward its LNG import project and power plans in Vietnam with partner Tokyo Gas as it signed an agreement for the first phase of a large regional development project consisting of an industrial park and other facilities in Quang Ninh Province in the bay area northeast of Hanoi.

Vietnam said it was in talks with US major ExxonMobil Corp. on the possibility of investing in new projects to develop liquefied natural gas imports for the southeast Asian nation to meet increasing power needs and it was seeking US shipments.

The government in Hanoi issued a statement that Vietnam welcomed ExxonMobil’s interest in the provision of new investment.

It issued the statement after a phone call between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Irtiza Sayyed, President of ExxonMobil LNG Market Development Inc.

“Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed ExxonMobil’s plan to invest in Vietnam in many areas, including natural gas exploration and LNG, petrochemical refining and electricity production from LNG,” said the government.

“The Prime Minister affirmed that ExxonMobil's cooperation is very important, contributing to the joint cooperation between Vietnam and the United States, especially this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries,” it added.

The statement mentioned in particular ExxonMobil possibly investing in the development of the LNG-for-power chain with a capacity of about 3,000 megawatts in Long An in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam.

“For this, ExxonMobil will ensure a continuous supply of LNG directly from the United States and from several other countries. LNG import will contribute to creating a harmonious trade balance between Vietnam and the US,” said the Vietnamese.

The government added that another possible project was the 4,000-MW LNG-for-power plant in the northern port city of Haiphong, adding that this could be completed between 2025 and 2030.

ExxonMobil’s main US LNG export interests are as a shareholder in the Qatar Petroleum-led Golden Pass export project in Texas.

Qatar Petroleum owns 70 percent of the Golden Pass joint venture and ExxonMobil holds 30 percent.

Originally built as an import facility on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas before the shale-gas revolution, Golden Pass will be reconfigured to export up to 15.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

An engineering consortium comprising McDermott and Zachry Group of the US and Japan’s Chiyoda Corp. has been awarded the contract to build the plant.

The Qatar state energy company and ExxonMobil have also been running a joint marketing company called Ocean LNG, created in 2016.

Ocean LNG is responsible for placing all of the offtake from the Golden Pass liquefaction facility.

Following a final investment decision for Golden Pass made on the 5th of February 2019, the companies have been focusing on marketing US LNG volumes in the Asia-Pacific region.

ExxonMobil has been engaged in Vietnam offshore activities for several years, though progress has been slow.

Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietnam Exploration and Production Corp. (PVEP) are parties to a production-sharing agreement for offshore blocks 117-119.

However, no significant progress has been made since pre-front-end engineering and design was completed in 2018 on the Ca Voi Xanh field, also known as the Blue Whale field.

ExxonMobil has said that the Blue Whale field natural gas resources are large enough to provide power for a city the size of Hanoi for more than 20 years.

Vietnam is making progress on a project to construct a liquefied natural gas import terminal with an associated power plant in Bac Lieu Province in the southern Mekong Delta and the venture is being developed with full foreign infrastructure investment.