MoU signed for 3.2 GW LNG project in Vietnam

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Energy Capital Vietnam (ECV) has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with The People's Committee of Bac Lieu Province to develop an integrated Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to power project in the province, which is located in the Mekong Delta region of the country.

The project will deliver the first privately-funded and owned LNG terminal in Vietnam. The first 1 GW phase will start operations in 2021 with phases 2 and 3 adding a further 1 GW and 1.2 GW respectively by 2027. The estimated total investment required is US$4 billion.

The MoU provides the basis for ECV as the exclusive investor. It was announced during the signing ceremony that the Prime Minister and Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam have already provided their full support for the project.

ECV has stated that it intends to engage strategic investment partners to support the project and to secure all of the required licenses, certificates, permits, approvals, acceptances and agreements within a twelve-month period, as per Vietnamese law.

ECV has already engaged with technical consultants and is in discussions with GE and Cheniere. The consortium will accompany the Provincial leadership of Bac Lieu to Hanoi within the next few months to formally include the project in the national government's Power Development Plan.

ECV has retained Winston & Strawn as legal counsel on the deal.

In November 2017, PV Gas, the largest gas company in Vietnam, signed a MoU with AES Group, which committed the latter to evaluating participating in the construction of an LNG terminal, which is to have a capacity of 1-3 million metric tons/year.

Thus, this project being developed by ECV is not the first privately-owned LNG terminal project to be developed in Vietnam. However, according to the government's 2035 gas market development master plan, released in January 2017, PV Gas' terminal will be commissioned between 2023 and 2025.

ECV is a project development and alternative asset management company created as a platform for US investment and technology transfer into privatization, infrastructure and other development opportunities within Vietnam. It is headquartered in the US with partners that reside full time in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.