LNG Vietnam, worth $4.4 million, is a joint venture of Japanese Tokyo Gas Group (Tokyo Gas), PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation (PV Gas), and Bitexco Group. Accordingly, PV Gas will hold a 51 per cent stake, Bitexco 39 per cent and Tokyo Gas 10 per cent.

 

Although Vietnam is currently self-sufficient in natural gas, the government plans to import and distribute LNG to meet the growing demand of power plants and industrial users. Last year, the country announced plans to build six LNG storage facilities by 2020 for distribution to industrial parks across the country.

 

PV Gas predicts a supply gap of six billion cubic metres, particularly in Southeast Vietnam, within the next four years. The figure is expected to rise over 15 billion cubic metres by 2025.

 

Thus, LNG Vietnam is expected to pioneer LNG in Vietnam, managing all facilities in the country, along with export-import and distribution activities in order to meet domestic demand and trade with other countries in the region.

 

In Vietnam, LNG is mainly used as a source of energy by industrial producers and fertiliser plants or as fuel for gas-fired power plants.

 

According to PV Gas, LNG will be brought in by specialised carrier ships and degasified before delivery to pipelines and consumers. Because the price of imported LNG is much higher than domestic gas, the target customers will be those who can afford it, including the largest state-owned power producer, Electricity of Vietnam, which consumes more than 80 per cent of PV Gas’s output.

 

Previously, in May, leaders of Tokyo Gas and PV Gas met to discuss the investment plan in the construction and operation of Thi Vai LNG warehouse in Cai Mep industrial zone in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, as well as the expansion and management of LNG warehouse infrastructure and the development of the Vietnamese LNG market in the future.