Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Many foreign and domestic companies are keen onbuilding multi-billion-dollar liquefied natural gas power and storage plants inthe central province of Khanh Hoa.

The province proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) list VanPhong Economic Zone in the national power development plan in the2021-2030 period in the Power Master Plan VIII. According to the Van PhongEconomic Zone’s management board, the four chosen locations have an area ofmore than 1,000ha with favourable conditions to develop LNG projects.

Specifically, the locations will be at My Giang hamlet, Ninh Thuy IndustrialPark, Nam Van Phong petrochemical refinery complex and Ninh Tinh IndustrialPark.

According to the province’s leaders, the locations were carefully consideredwith advantages of proximity to the sea, and large land fund for big scaleprojects.

He said they asked the ministry to give priority to investors fromdeveloped countries with financial capacity and experience in investmentsof power plants around the world such as the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea.

In addition, the provincial People’s Committee had requested to supplement andadjust the master plan for development of the gas industry in the southern VanPhong region (in Van Phong EZ) to suit the capacity, scale and operating timeof gas power projects according to the Power Master Plan VIII.

The Van Phong Economic Zone’s management board said many firms had showninterest in Van Phong as an investment destination.

These include Millennium Group from the US, Sumitomo Corporation andJ-Power from Japan and a venture between Vietnam’s Embark United and theUS’ Quantum. 

Millennium wants to build a 9,600-MW power plant and storage complexwith total investment of 15 billion USD.

J-Power, which has been in the energy sector for 60 years, is eyeing a3,000-MW, 3.2-billion USD plant that will be commissioned by 2025.

Embark-Quantum seeks to build a 6,000-MW plant and storage complex covering 300hectares.

Vietnamese companies are not out of the race in building LNG power and storageprojects in the economic zone.

Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has proposed a 6,000-MW plant, while the Vietnam NationalPetroleum Group (Petrolimex) has proposed an LNG storage complex with an annualcapacity of three million tonnes.

In September, Imex Pan Pacific Group of Johnathan Hanh Nguyen announced tosponsor 5 million USD for Khanh Hoa province to build the Van Phong EconomicZone.

The EZ’s planning would take two years. The province would submit theplan to the Prime Minister for approval.

The Government is drafting a new national power development plan for the nextdecade that will include 22 LNG power plants with a combined capacity of up to108.5 GW, the first of which will be commissioned in 2023. 

In the future, Vietnam needs a large amount of LNG energy to serve powergeneration. This is why the country needs a development strategy for LNGports.

Ngo Thi To Nhien, managing director of Vietnam Initiative for EnergyTransition, said currently, the infrastructure for LNG transportation in Vietnamhas not been developed synchronously.

In terms of structure, Vietnam’s port system still has many shortcomings suchas redundancy of small ports, lack of large ports, insufficient investment infocus, and few ports that are eligible to receive medium-sized vessels.

In order to meet Vietnam’s demand for LNG in the future, infrastructure such astransportation systems and specialised vehicles for the transport, storage andrecycling of fuel need to be improved and developed.

She recommended that the construction and operation of the LNG ports should becarried out by a subsidiary of the gas transport unit. This will help clarifyroles and costs and enable a third party to invest in these ports.

In particular, it is necessary to build a shared model of LNG gas portinfrastructure to reduce costs, avoid wasting marine resources or conflict ofeconomic interests with other industries as well as facilitate the developmentof a competitive gas market in the future./.