Hanoi (VNA) – General Director of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group(PetroVietnam) Le Manh Hung has proposed that PetroVietnam and Norwegian energyfirm Equinor promptly build a roadmap to implement their joint offshore windpower and hydrogen production projects in Vietnam during a recent meeting with EquinorDirector Anita H. Holgersen in Hanoi.

At the meeting, Holgersen introduced capabilities, experience, and howEquinor transformed from a state-owned oil and gas group into an energy group.

She held that PetroVietnam and Equinor share manysimilarities, including the same starting point as oil and gas companies. Shehailed PetroVietnam’s role and position as the leading energy enterprise inVietnam, as well as the leading capable and experienced firm in Southeast Asiain the field of processing, manufacturing, assembling, transportation andconstruction of offshore construction works.

Holgersen expressed her hope that the partnership betweenEquinor and PetroVietnam will further grow with more practical results inbuilding and implementing investment cooperation in the field of energy,offshore wind power development, production of hydrogen, ammonia, Carboncapture, utilisation and storage (CCS/CCUS).

PetroVietnam General Director Le Manh Hung highly evaluated thecooperation activities between PetroVietnam and Equinor recently in the fieldof offshore wind power. 

Hung said he hoped Equinor will expand cooperation withPetroVietnam in the field of clean energy, especially hydrogen production fromoffshore wind power. At the same time, he suggested that Equinor work with PetroVietnammember units such as PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) and Vietsovpetro(VSP) and support them in participating in Equinor’s projects not only inVietnam but in international markets. 

In the coming time, the two sides should continue to work withthe Government as well as relevant ministries, sectors and localities todevelop a roadmap for the implementation of specific joint offshore wind powerprojects in Vietnam, he proposed.

Meanwhile, during a recent working trip to the US, PTSC General Director Le Manh Cuong had a working session with representatives from Equinoron cooperation in the implementation of offshore wind power projects.

At the session, both sides undated each other on theprogress, infrastructure investment and logistics for two giant offshore windpower projects of Empire Wind an Becon Wind in the US.

Hung introduced PTSC’s capacity, experience andinfrastructure in seaports and manufacturing yards. He underlined that in itsstrategic directions, PTSC plans to participate in providing base andtransformer station manufacturing services, while looking for opportunities toinvest in and develop offshore renewable energy projects in Vietnam.

Showing impression for the capacity, experience andinfrastructure of PTSC, Equinor representatives held that PTSC is a competentsupplier of services for offshore renewable energy projects and a suitablelocal partner for investors in offshore wind power development in Vietnam.

Founded in 1972 as the Norwegian State’s Oil & GasCompany (Statoil), Equinor has become an international company with operationsin 33 countries and now is a leading company in the energy transition. It is thelargest oil and gas operator in Norway, one of the world’s largest offshoreoperators, and a growing force in renewables. Equinor provides more than onemillion European homes with renewable power from offshore wind farms in theUnited Kingdom and Germany. By 2030, the firm plans to have grown its installednet renewables capacity from 2021’s 0.7 GW to 12-16 GW. Two-thirds of thiscapacity will be within offshore wind.

Since 2021, PTSC and Equinor has conducted a number ofmeetings to seek cooperation opportunities in offshore renewable energy,especially offshore wind power in Vietnam.

In May, Equinor officially launched its representativeoffice in Hanoi, affirming its willingness and determination to makecontributions to the development of Vietnam’s offshore wind power sector aswell as the green transition process of Vietnam, and support Vietnam inrealising its commitments in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and at the26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).

Earlier in October 2021, together with the Norwegian Embassyin Hanoi, Equinor completed a Vietnam Supply Chain Study Report and handed it over toVietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien right before histrip to COP26 with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh./.