Foreign investors dive into LNG projects in Vietnam

Foreign investors are showing increasing interest in LNG projects

Most recently, Marubeni Corporation arrived to Ba Ria-Vung Tau to propose building an LNG project after two years of studies. Marubeni came wielding a specific plan for the project.

Notably, the construction will be implemented on an area of 200 hectares with the capacity of 4,800MW. The project will have a total investment capital of $2.7 billion and is expected to come into commercial operation in the second quarter of 2025. The duration of the power purchase contract is proposed to be 25 years.

“Electricity demand is increasing, especially in the south region, while domestic coal and gas sources are decreasing and there is less and less space for hydropower plants. Besides, Vietnam had to start to import coal in 2015. Thus, it is necessary to generate electricity from other sources,” said the representative of Marubeni.

In reality, Marubeni has given voice to its ambition to develop a gas-to-power project in Vietnam numerous times now. Most recently, in mid-April 2019 at a working session with Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung, Masumi Kakinori, general director of Marubeni, emphased that Marubeni considers Vietnam an important investment destination and the group wants to implement long-term investment in numerous sectors, namely export-import and LNG supply chain.

However, according to Nguyen Thanh Long, vice chairman of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau People’s Committee, the area where Marubeni wants to develop the LNG project is in the planning of Long Son refinery industrial zone, thus, the province will have to wait for the opinion of the prime minister before issuing the final decision.

Marubeni Corporation and its consolidated subsidiaries use their broad business networks, both within Japan and overseas, to conduct import and export (including third-country trading), as well as domestic business, encompassing a diverse range of business activities across wide-ranging fields including food, energy and metals, power and plant projects, and transportation and machinery. Additionally, it offers a variety of services, makes internal and external investments, and is involved in resource development throughout all of the above industries.