State-owned oil & gas giant, PetroVietnam Gas has reportedly disclosed that it has secured a cargo worth 70,000 metric tons of LNG (liquefied natural gas) from Singapore-located Shell Eastern Trading, subsequently marking the first LNG import in Vietnam.
Apparently, the industrial cluster in Southeast Asia is anticipating constructing 15 LNG-fueled power plants with a combined 22.4 gigawatts capacity by 2035, representing a nearly 15% increase from the current zero LNG-fired power plants.
As per sources, the relatively tiny shipment, which departed from Bontang Port in Indonesia last week, was intended to test the operation of PetroVietnam Gas-owned Thi Vai LNG terminal in the country's south.
According to the developer, the terminal will provide gas to two neighboring state-owned PetroVietnam Power power reactors that are being built and are slated to begin operating by the end of next year as well as industrial clients.
It has also been previously reported that PetroVietnam Gas was in separate talks with leading U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil as well as Russia's Novatek LNG cooperation, as it plans of securing long-term supplies for the future LNG-fired power plants in Vietnam.
In fact, PetroVietnam Gas separately met with the representatives of Novatek, which it stated was interested to supply it with LNG from the period 2023-2026.
The developer has also stated that the terminal will provide gas to two neighbouring state-owned PetroVietnam Power power reactors that are being built and are slated to begin operating by the end of next year as well as industrial clients.
For the unversed, there are currently no LNG power stations in operation in Vietnam. However, this is going to change, though, as the government works to minimize pollution by discouraging the use of coal-fired power generation, which now generates approximately half of the nation's electricity.