The Institute of Energy of Vietnam is drafting a new master power development plan and has compiled a list of 22 such LNG power plants with a huge combined potential capacity of up to 108.5 gigawatts (GW), the first of which will be operational by 2023.

That would be nearly double the country's total installed generation capacity of 56 GW, and easily more than twice Thailand's capacity of about 46 GW.

Vietnam plans to develop infrastructure capable of importing 8 billion cubic metres of LNG a year by 2030, including LNG from the United States with which it has a widening trade surplus.

The following is a summary of some of the proposed LNG projects in Vietnam:

THI VAI LNG TERMINAL & NHON TRACH 3 AND 4 POWER PLANTS

Company: PetroVietnam Gas

Where: southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau

Capacity: First phase with capacity of 1 million tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG scheduled to be completed by 2022. To be raised to 3 million tpy by 2023.

Status: Under construction

Power plants: PetroVietnam Power Corp has approved a $1.4 billion plan to build the Nhan Trach 3 and 4 gas-fired power plants in neighbouring Dong Nai province with a combined capacity of between 1,300 megawatts (MW) and 1,760 MW.

The plants, to use 1.4 million tpy of LNG, are scheduled to become operational from 2023 and 2024, which would make them the first LNG-to-power facilities in Vietnam.

LNG: PetroVietnam Gas has signed master sales agreements with Shell Singapore, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell, and Gazprom Marketing and Trading Singapore (GMTS), a unit of Gazprom.

KHANH HOA PETROLIMEX LNG TERMINAL PROJECT

Company: Vietnam National Petroleum Group, or Petrolimex

Where: central province of Khanh Hoa

Power plant capacity: 4 power plants with a combined capacity of 6,000 MW to be built by state utility EVN.

LNG: 180,000-cubic-metre LNG storage facility

Status: Petrolimex signed an agreement with Japan's then JXTG (now Eneos Holdings) in July 2019 to compile an LNG & Gas Development plan, including the development of the complex.

CA NA LNG POWER COMPLEX

Company: State utility EVN

Where: central province of Binh Thuan

Power plants: The first phase of the project - 1,500 MW - should be operational from 2025-2026, Vietnam's prime minister said in April.

LNG: The complex will use LNG imported via a terminal to be developed at the nearby Ca Na Port.

Status: Selecting investor

BAC LIEU LNG-TO-POWER COMPLEX

Company: Singapore-based Delta Offshore Energy Pte Ltd

Where: southern province of Bac Lieu

Power plant capacity: 3,200 MW

LNG: The complex includes either a floating storage unit or a floating storage regasification unit with capacity of 150,000-174,000 cubic metres, a regassing unit, and 35 kilometres of pipelines.

Status: Construction work on the $4 billion project is scheduled to start in 2021 for completion in 2024. It will be the first large-scale LNG project to be developed by a foreign investor.

SON MY 2 LNG POWER PLANT

Company: U.S.-based AES Corp

Where: central province of Binh Thuan

Power plant capacity: 2,200 MW

LNG: To be imported via the nearby Son My LNG terminal to be built by PetroVietnam Gas. The terminal has an initial throughput capacity of 3.6 million tpy.

Status: Memorandum of understanding signed in 2019. The $1.7 billion project is due to become operational from 2026 or 2027.

SON MY 1 LNG POWER PLANT

Company: EDF, Sojitz Corp, Kyushu Electric Power Co and Pacific Corp

Where: central province of Binh Thuan

Power plant capacity: 2,000 MW

LNG: To be imported via nearby Son My LNG Terminal.

Status: Power plant, scheduled to be operational from 2027, will use 0.57 million tpy of imported LNG.

LONG SON LNG POWER COMPLEX

Company: EVN, possibly with the participation of units of Mitsubishi Corp and General Electric

Where: southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau

Investment: $3.78 billion

Power plant capacity: The first phase of the project with a capacity of 1,200 MW and 1,500 MW is to be operational from 2025-2026, the prime minister said in April.

LNG: To be imported via the nearby Long Son LNG terminal, which has a capacity of between 3.5 million and 4.4 million tpy.

Status: selecting investor

CA MAU 3 LNG POWER PLANT

Company: PetroVietnam Power Corp

Where: southern province of Ca Mau

Power plant capacity: 1,500 MW

Status: The $1.51 billion project is scheduled to be operational by 2026-2027 and is pending government approval.

U.S.-VIETNAM JOINT VENTURE CHAN MAY LNG

Company: Chan May LNG JSC, a U.S.-Vietnam joint venture

Where: central province of Thua Thien Hue

Power plant capacity: 4,000 MW LNG power complex

LNG: Construction of the complex, which includes an LNG terminal and storage facilities, is scheduled to begin in 2021, with the first 2,400 MW phase expected to come on line by 2024.

Status: memorandum of understanding signed for the $6 billion project

Sources: The Institute of Energy of Vietnam, provincial authorities, Ministry of Industry and Trade, state media

($1 = 23,176 dong)

By Khanh Vu