Vietnam's PV Gas to supply LNG to replace piped gas in power plant

Vietnam's state-controlled PV Gas and PV Power are poised to agree a principal contract for supplying LNG from the Thi Vai terminal to PV Power's Nhon Trach 1 combined cycle power plant, PV Gas said in a statement March 2.

PV Gas has supplied natural gas through pipelines to feed the 450-MW Nhon Trach 1 plant since 2009 and the 750-MW Nhon Trach 2 since 2011. Both are located in the southern province of Dong Nai and owned by PV Power, the power unit of PetroVietnam.

The gas supplier did not provide further details, but it said on its website that, with domestic gas production in decline, the shortfall will be met by LNG from its Thi Vai terminal.

PV Gas received a commissioning cargo for the Thi Vai terminal in July last year. It issued a tender on Feb. 26, seeking 1-2 spot LNG cargoes on a DES basis to the terminal for delivery from April onward, S&P Global Commodity Insights has reported.

In a meeting on Feb. 29, PV Gas and PV Power also discussed their tentative long-term LNG supply contract for the 1,500-MW Nhon Trach 3 and 4 plants, which are under construction. They also talked about supplying LNG for the upcoming test run of Nhon Trach 3 and 4.

PV Power said on Feb. 20 that it had completed 66% of work at the two plants. But it has not yet been able to finalize the power purchase agreement with state utility EVN, resulting in delayed signing of its LNG supply agreement for Nhon Trach 3 and 4 with PV gas.

In addition, PV Gas and PV Power discussed the possibility of collective bidding for an LNG-to-power project in the northern central region of Vietnam.

On March 1, PV Gas also announced that it will supply LNG from Thi Vai by truck to domestic industrial customers starting March 15.

Northern Vietnam

Separately, PV Gas CEO Pham Van Phong met with provincial officials of Nam Dinh in northern Vietnam on Feb. 5 to explore the possibility of building an LNG terminal and an associated power plant in the province. The terminal will be able to supply LNG within a radius of 200 km while the power plant will have a capacity of at least 1,500 MW of electricity.

PV Gas asked the province to allow it to conduct feasibility studies for the projects.

A consortium of Japan's Tokyo Gas, Kyuden International Corp. and Vietnam's Truong Thanh Group plans to begin construction of its LNG-to-power plant in Thai Binh, which is adjacent to Nam Dinh, in the third quarter of 2025, S&P Global has reported previously. The consortium will invest $2 billion to construct the 1,500-MW power plant, which it expects to be put into commercial operations by 2030.

Central Vietnam

Meanwhile, the government of Thanh Hoa province in central Vietnam plans to select an investor for an LNG-to-power complex in the second quarter of this year, a statement from the provincial government said Feb. 29.

The provincial authorities have received bids from three investor consortiums comprising Japan's JERA and Vietnam's Sovico Group; Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO), Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS), Daewoo Engineering & Construction Group and Vietnam's Anh Phat Construction and Trading Investment JSC; Vietnam Oil and Gas Power Corp. (PV Power) and T&T Group.

It also got bids from two individual investors Thailand's Gulf Energy Development and SK E&S.

The project comprises a 1.5 GW LNG-fired power plant, an LNG import terminal, a 230,000 cu m LNG storage tank, regasification capacity of 1.2 million mt/year, and pipelines to deliver 1.2 million mt/year. It will be built on an area of 68.2 hectares to the south of Nghi Son seaport and is expected to commence commercial operation before 2030, according to statement.