$1.3B LNG terminal project approved in central Vietnam

By Dat Nguyen July 13, 2023 | 08:40 pm PT

A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is tugged towards a thermal power station in Futtsu, east of Tokyo, Japan, November 13, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Issei Kato

Binh Thuan Province has granted approval to U.S. energy firm AES and Petrovietnam Gas to build the US$1.34-billion Son My LNG Terminal.

The country’s biggest facility for managing the import and export of liquefied natural gas when completed in 2027 will have a capacity of 450 trillion British thermal units.

In the first phase the terminal will be able to handle 3.6 million tons of LNG annually and in the second phase 6 million.

Joseph Uddo, president of AES Vietnam said: "The Investment Policy Approval for Son My LNG Terminal is a significant milestone that enables us to move forward with the development of this critical infrastructure project.

The Son My LNG terminal project, together with AES’ 2.2-gigawatt Son My 2 combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT), represents a multibillion-dollar investment.

Son My 2 CCGT, which received investment policy approval earlier this year, will bring safe and reliable energy to power the growth of Vietnam while supporting the transition to cleaner and greener technologies, AES said.

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper said that the Son My project will bring energy security to Vietnam in the transition to cleaner sources of energy.

Under Vietnam’s latest energy development plan, LNG will account for 14.9% of total generation capacity by 2030.

By then Vietnam will have 13 LNG factories with a total capacity of 22,400 megawatts.