LNG

AES Corp., the US company that was the first to develop an LNG import terminal in the Caribbean, was named by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as the latest American corporation to be involved in LNG and power infrastrasture development in Vietnam.

Pompeo told a virtual conference of the Indo-Pacific Business Forum that AES would sign an agreement with PetroVietnam Gas for a $2.8-billion LNG-to-power project in the southeast Asian nation.

AES is an experienced LNG industry participant, having set up LNG imports for the Dominican Republic way back in 2003 with the import facility at Punta Caucedo operated by its subsidiary AES Andres.

“Vietnam has given the green light to AES Corp., a company based in Virginia, to go forward with the project,” stated Pompeo at the online forum.

AES was also behind the debut of Panama as an LNG importer with its Costa Norte project in operation since 2018.

Vietnam is developing four LNG import projects backed by power plant developments along its coast from northern port of Haiphong to the ports in the South.

Vietnamese officials also said after the declaration by Secretary of State Pompeo that Delta Offshore Energy, the Singapore-based company developing an LNG and power project in Bac Lieu province in the Mekong Delta, has moved forward with its plans.

They said that the Bac Lieu province LNG-to-power project had signed preliminary contracts with several US engineering and equipment companies, naming McDermott International and Bechtel Inc. as well as power plant supplier General Electric.

Pompeo said it was a “real win-win” situation for the US and Vietnam as the AES deal and others would also open the door for the supply of billions of dollars of US LNG shipments and investments with Vietnamese and other partners in power infrastructure.

The forum was also attended by Pompeo’s Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh.

Pompeo made his remarks on an Asian tour, taking in India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia.

Vietnam is building four LNG-to-power plants, with the first to be operational by 2023.

Vietnam said in June 2020 that talks had taken place by telephone between Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and ExxonMobil on the development of a power and LNG venture in Haiphong.

Prime Minister Nguyen said at the time that he welcomed ExxonMobil’s willingness to invest in Vietnam in many areas, including natural gas exploration and LNG, petrochemical refining and electricity production from LNG.

The Bac Lieu project of Delta Offshore is the most advanced of the planned Vietnamese LNG terminal build-out and the company said in September 2020 that it had also signed a technology license agreement with Sweden’s Stena Power and LNG Solutions for jetty-less LNG receiving and regasification technology.

A third Vietnamese LNG terminal is envisaged adjacent to a gas-fired power station in Ninh Thuan province, south of Cam Ranh Bay.

The fourth project is at Long An, also on the Mekong Delta, and this will see the development of a 3,000-megawatts power plant as well as an import terminal.

AES Dominicana, a subsidiary of AES Corp. of the US, has signed an agreement to supply liquefied natural gas to the Barbados National Oil Company from its AES Andres LNG terminal in the Dominican Republic.

AES Corp. of the US said its LNG import terminal at Punta Caucedo in the Dominican Republic has completed modifications to enable reloading and exports of shipments to the Caribbean and Central America.

French utility and energy company Engie has signed a marketing agreement with the owner of an established LNG import terminal in the Caribbean that will underpin small-scale LNG deliveries from the US to Panama and the Dominican Republic for power and fuel use.