Vietnam’s state-owned PetroVietnam (PVN) has agreed to an initial financing deal with the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, also known as Mubo, to strengthen and streamline South Korean companies’ participation in natural gas projects with PVN and its subsidiaries.
The USD 1bn package has both mid- to long-term financial tranches available if South Korean companies secure PVN’s natural gas projects.
PVN has plans to expand its gas field development, pipeline construction, and gas-fired power plants in projects valued at around USD 12bn. This is aligned with the government’s plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through increased reliance on gas-fired power generation. PVN manages at least four gas-fired power plants, two coal-fired power plants, and two hydropower plants, with 5404MW of total capacity, according to the firm.
State-owned PetroVietnam Gas (PV Gas) is at the forefront of the gas power sector projects. It operates the 1mn t/yr Thi Vai LNG terminal, commissioned in July 2023, and has started supplying gas-fired power generation to industrial customers since 15 March.
Vietnam is expecting to import more LNG, in anticipation of the start-up of the 1.6GW Nhon Trach LNG thermal power plant in November this year. The plant is comprised of two units that could require as much as 775,000 t/yr of LNG each, assuming a generating efficiency of 60%.
