PetroVietnam Gas, a unit of state-owned PetroVietnam, still expects to launch its new Thi Vai LNG import terminal in the fourth quarter of this year, as construction work continues to progress on the country’s first such facility.
PV Gas said earlier this year it had planned to launch the facility and import the first LNG cargo in the third quarter of this year, followed by the start commercial of operations in 2023.
The company’s officials visited the onshore LNG receiving terminal at Thi Vai in the coastal area southeast of Ho Chi Minh City on June 5, according to a statement by PV Gas.
Currently, the LNG import facility is more than 95 percent complete, including one LNG tank, a jetty, and regas area, PV Gas said.
The LNG tank had reached mechanical completion in April, while the jetty and the regas unit should reach completion in July, it said.
PV Gas confirmed that it expects to commission the facility in the fourth quarter of this year.
The terminal will have a capacity of 1 mtpa in its first phase, but the company plans to boost the capacity to 3 mtpa in the next stage.
Vietnam’s government previously said that Vietnam would start importing LNG in 2022 in order to meet the country’s growing power demand.
South Korea’s Samsung C&T is building the Thi Vai LNG terminal. It also won an order from PetroVietnam Power, a unit of PetroVietnam, to build a new power plant that will get regasified LNG from this import facility.
The Nhon Trach 3 and 4 plants will have a total capacity of some 1,500 MW.