Hanoi (VNA)🗹 – The Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) and contractors are discussing measures to restart Long Phu 1 thermal power project that has been postponed since 2019.

At a meeting with the project management board and contractors last weekend, Petrovietnam General Director Le Manh Hung, Petrovietnam Deputy General Director Pham Tien Dung, other managers of the group and contractors, including the Petrovietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC) and the Petrovietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation (PetroCons), discussed the deadline to complet the project, total new investment amount, the best options to carry out and implementation plans. Petrovietnam General Director Le Manh Hung asked the Long Phu 1 Project Management Board to coordinate with relevant departments to soon identify options and implementation plans. Hung also requested the Long Phu 1 Project Management Board to establish working groups to update the total project estimate, review the legal status of contracts, and re-evaluate the capitalisation value of the project. He asked PTSC to continue to support the Long Phu 1 Project Management Board to better evaluate, classify and maintain machinery and equipment on the construction site, making it ready to restart the project.

According to the Long Phu 1 Project Management Board, since Russian constructor Power Machines Company withdrew from the project due to the US’s sanction on January 26, 2018, the project's completed workload was still kept at over 70%. Meanwhile, the company announced the termination of its EPC contract on February 22, 2019.

𓃲 At a meeting late last year, the Project Management Board also said that it was coordinating with Petrovietnam and the legal consultant to prepare and complete procedures to submit to the international arbitration council at the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC).

The magement board also completed the plan to restart the project. Accordingly, the project is expected to be completed by 2026 and the board prepared for the selection of a new EPC contractor. The construction of the Long Phu 1 Thermal Power Plant in Long Phu district, Soc Trang province, started in early 2011. The project consists of two turbines with a total installed capacity of 1,200 MW. Once put into operation, the plant will contribute to the national grid with about 7.8 billion kWh per year./.