Vietnam to import 10 mln tonnes of coal by 2015

January 11, 2012 | 16:00

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Vietnam will have to import 10 million tonnes of coal per year by 2015, and 60 million tonnes by 2020, the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) said at a meeting yesterday.

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At the meeting regarding Vinacomin’s main tasks this year, Deputy Minister Hoang Trung Hai said that it is not simple to import such a huge amount of coal.

To receive the coal, the country needs to build a transshipment port, which will require a total investment of $1 billion, Hai said.

Thus, the deputy PM urged Vinacomin to seek solutions to reduce the amount of imported coal.

“[Vinacomin] should focus investment on the exploration of potential coal reserves, and the evaluation of the current reserves of the Quang Ninh and Red River coal basins,” he said.

Regarding domestic coal consumption, the deputy PM demanded that Vinacomin, rather than the power generators, be the institution to decide which types of coal will be used for power production.

Specifically, power boilers fueled by coal should be designed so that they can use coal exploited in Vietnam, to ensure effectiveness, Hai added.

“We used to think that Vietnam had large coal reserves, and could freely exploit this natural resource,” he said.

“But reality now shows that the oppositeis ture, and we should find solutions to prevent the country from suffering an energy shortage, which would affect its sustainable development.”

According to Vinacomin CEO Le Minh Chuan, last year the company consumed 44.56 million tonnes of coal, 19.97 million tonnes of which were exported.

This year Vinacomin is targeting to export 14.5 million tonnes, Chuan said.