LNG

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation has accorded and underwritten loans of more than $800M for a natural gas field, gas pipelines and power projects in Vietnam.

Vietnam has approved its latest power development plan with liquefied natural gas imports and pipeline natural gas at its centre, while also including some renewables and reduced coal-fired electricity generation.

Trelleborg Marine and Infrastructure, a unit of the Swedish maritime equipment-maker listed on the Nasdaq, said it was delivering docking and mooring equipment and ship-shore links to PetroVietnam Gas for the Thi Vai LNG import terminal project in southern Vietnam.

“It is our pleasure to have been selected as a strategic partner for such a landmark project and consequently play a key role in facilitating Vietnam's transition to LNG gas thermal power,” said Richard Hepworth, President of Trelleborg Marine and Infrastructure.

Trelleborg will also supply a selection of docking and mooring equipment.

This includes its Quick Release Hooks (QRH), the foundation for modern mooring systems at terminals.

“The Load Monitoring System, which measures and displays critical mooring line tensions and its Docking Aid System, which increases situational awareness, provide vital information such as distances, angles, and speeds to pilots and jetty operators to ensure the vessel is safely docked,” explained the company.

Ship-shore link

“At the same time, its Ship-Shore Link system supports LNG carrier loading and cargo discharge,” it added.

“Additionally, the terminal will utilize Trelleborg’s Environmental Monitoring System which provides weather, tide, current and wave information to the staff at the berth, at the operations center, or to the vessel,” said the company.

The Vietnamese terminal is located in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau and when operational it will have capacity to import of one million tonnes per annum of LNG and up to 3 MTPA in the second phase of development.

“In order to safeguard the traffic of LNG carriers supplying international routes, it was vital that we upgraded the terminal with an integrated berthing system that successfully meets international LNG operation safety and quality specifications and standards,” explained PetroVietnam.

“We’ve no doubt Trelleborg is the ideal strategic partner to realize our ambition of facilitating LNG supply for Vietnam,” said the Vietnamese state energy company. 

Japan Petroleum Exploration (Japex), which operates the main LNG import terminal in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture and has a stake in an LNG receiving terminal in the Vietnamese port city of Haiphong, said it was also planning to expand its shale oil and gas interests in the US.

Dec 2 (LNGJ) - Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Leonid Mikhelson, Chief Executive of Russian natural gas company Novatek, held a meeting in Moscow to discuss the supply of LNG from Novatek’s Arctic LNG export projects and a cooperation accord has now been signed with PetroVietnam.

   “Parties to the agreement intend to cooperate on LNG infrastructure projects with the view to meeting the growing demand for electricity in Vietnam,” said a statement. “The agreement represents an important step in the development of the company’s cooperation with Vietnamese corporations, which received an additional impetus after Novatek opened its representative office in Vietnam,” it added.

PetroVietnam Gas said it was making progress with plans to raise investments for infrastructure for importing, storing and distributing liquefied natural gas nationwide and the start-up of LNG imports is just a year away .

A board meeting of PV Gas said that each region of the southeast Asian nation would have one of three proposed LNG hubs.

These are the Thi Vai LNG storage and regasification terminal in the South, the Son My LNG storage and regas facility in the central region and a large storage and regas hub icovering Quang Ninh, Hai Phong and Thanh Hoa in the North.

PV Gas said the aim was to begin importing LNG cargoes by 2022 as the company explained that its own domestic natural gas production has declined.

The state-owned energy firm said that currently, there was a focus on the construction of an import terminal and storage with a capacity of one million tonnes of LNG per annum in Thi Vai. PV Gas said the Thi Vai LNG project is about 90 percent complete.

“It is expected to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2022 and other infrastucture, including an LNG jetty for tankers in Thi Vai, are also being worked on,” said PV Gas in a statement.

The company said it was focusing on preparing short and medium-term LNG import agreements.

US agreement

PV GAS and US-based AES Corp, have a joint venture agreement on the establishment and operation of the central region’s Son My LNG port and storage hub.

PetroVietnam signed an agreement with AES in September 2021 to form a joint venture for a $1.3Bln LNG terminal linked to a power project at Son My, located in Binh Thuan province.

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

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

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

PV Gas, whose headquarters are in Ho Chi Minh City, became one of several Vietnamese businesses with a market capitalisation approaching US$10 billion as the stock price has risen by 48 percent since the beginning of 2021.

It hit a record at 125,000 Vietnamese dong per share in October.

However, the shares have since dropped to 118,900 dong per share, giving the company a current market capitalization of 22,605 trillion dong (US$8.72Bln).

In the last quarter, PV Gas posted consolidated profits after tax of 2.46 trillion dong ($95.3 million).

There are two official stock exchanges in Vietnam, one called the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HOSE) and the second is the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX).

Securities of unlisted public companies may be registered to be traded on the regulated over-the-counter (OTC) market on the Hanoi Stock Exchange.

The number of listings on each exchange is about 380 as of the start of 2021.

The Government has already approved a plan to set up the Vietnam Stock Exchange (VSE) based on the consolidation of the HOSE and the HNX.

The VSE will be a 100 percent state-owned limited liability company.

Delta Offshore Energy, the Singapore-based company, has awarded the world’s leading liquefaction plant builder Bechtel Inc. of the US the preliminary engineering contract for the power plant in Vietnam to be fuelled by imported LNG in Bac Lieu Province on the Mekong Delta.

Stena Power and LNG Solutions was awarded the contract by Singapore-based Delta Offshore Energy to provide front-end engineering and design for using Stena’s jetty-less LNG transfer and regasification system for an import and power project planned for Bac Lieu province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta.

Delta Offshore proposes to employ Stena’s Jetty-less Floating Terminal (JFT) and Self-Installing Regas Platform (SRP) to assist in providing 3,200 megawatts of gas-fired power from LNG imports into the Bac Lieu province of southern Vietnam.

A technology license agreement had previously reached between Stena Power & LNG in August 2020 for Delta Offshore to use the proprietary jetty-less technology.

“The FEED agreement is pivotal in our service provision to Delta Offshore for this important, large-scale energy infrastructure project in Vietnam,” said Svein Hellesmark, Chief Technology Officer of the Norway-based subsidiary of the Gothenburg, Sweden-headquartered Stena Group.

“Our Jetty-less LNG-to-Power technology has been created to meet demand for more flexible LNG import and export terminals, such as is required for the hugely exciting Bac Lieu LNG-to-Power Project,” added Hellesmark.

“At Stena we offer innovative, integrated solutions across the LNG value chain. Our wide-ranging activity in the sector also includes new-building project support, ship management and marine engineering, all underpinned by our ethos that gas should always travel first class,” he stated.

The Stena units, the Jetty-less Floating Terminal (JFT) and Self-installing Regas Platform (SRP), will be located about 40 kilometres (25 miles) off the Vietnam coast.

Stena said that the FEED contract would include detailed model testing to ensure optimum performance with the environmental conditions in the Mekong Delta.

Bobby Quintos, Managing Director of Delta Offshore, said he now regarded the Stena equipment as “key components” his company’s LNG-to-power project in Bac Lieu.

“They allow us to position the LNG receiving terminal offshore, and thereby to minimize the project’s impact on land and on the coastline of Bac Lieu,” explained Quintos.

“This is a benefit of great value to the province because the coast sustains shrimp farms, mangroves and salt beds, all of which are important to the regional economy and environment,” he added.

“Our ethos at Delta is to provide power for progress, and the JFT and SRP will help us do so in an efficient and economical manner,” declared Quintos.

Italian energy company Eni has strengthened its presence in future LNG importer Vietnam through the acquisition of Block 115, located in the Song Hong basin and the nearby Ken Bau natural gas and condensate discovery.

Eni acquired a 100 percent interest in the Block from Krisenergy, an independent upstream company focused on the production and development of oil and gas in the basins of Southeast Asia.

“The acquired Block is adjacent to Block 114 where the operator Eni Vietnam and its partner Essar Exploration and Production Limited have recently announced the Ken Bau gas and condensate discovery currently under appraisal,” explained Eni.

Milan-based Eni said the new acreage also borders Block 116, operated by Eni Vietnam with a 100 percent participating interest.

The Block covers an area of 7,382 square kilometres with a water depth ranging from 90 metres to 1,000 metres.

“Eni's presence in the country is further strengthened with this acquisition, consolidating its position in the recently discovered Ken Bau play, in line with the strategy of expanding  its gas portfolio in the Far East,” said Eni.

Eni has been present in Vietnam since 2013, and currently operates five blocks all located in the under-explored Song Hong and Phu Khanh basins.

Vietnam is currently developing about half-a-dozen LNG and power projects with overseas partners to try and keep pace with future energy needs to enable its economic expansion.

The leading LNG import projects include the Quang Ninh LNG-for-power venture owned by a partnership comprising PetroVietnam, Tokyo Gas and Marubeni Corp.

Vietnam is also developing another terminal involving US major ExxonMobil Corp. at the port city of Haiphong.

Another Vietnamese LNG-for-power venture is being developed by Singapore-based company Delta Offshore Energy and partners in Bac Lieu province in the Mekong Delta of south Vietnam.

Other ventures are planned for Ninh Thuan province, south of Cam Ranh Bay, and at Long An, also on the Mekong Delta. 

March 22 (LNGJ) - GS Energy Corp., a subsidiary of the South Korean conglomerate, the GS Group, is planning to build and operate a power plant in Vietnam fired by regasified LNG. Vietnam is now the subject of over half a dozen power projects with gas-fired plants and backed by foreign investment. GS Energy said its project was in the south of Vietnam and would cost around 3.5 trillion South Korean won ($3 billion). The Korean company planned to sign a power purchase agreement with the state-run Vietnam Electricity Group to begin commercial production in 2027.