Authorities in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu on January 21 granted in-principle approval to a lmega iquefied natural gas (LNG) project which will cost US$4 billion to Singapore-based Delta Offshore Energy (DeltaOE).

Chairman of the Bac Lieu People's Committee Duong Thanh Trung grants investment decision to Delta Offshore Energy on Jan 21. Photo: SGGP

The complex project will comprise of a 3,200-megawatt combined-cycle power plant which will cover 40 hectares of land in Hoa Binh district, a floating station to receive and store 150,000-174,000 cubic meters of LNG, a gas recycling station, and a 35km high pressure gas pipeline.

The investor plans to complete the preparations for the investment by the end of 2020. At the end of 2023, it will build a station to storage, recycle, and bring gas ashore as well as operate the first-phase gas turbine capacity of 750MW.

Delta Offshore Energy expects to put the complex into full operation before December 2027.

The selling electricity prices will be determined through the negotiations between DOE Singapore and Vietnam Electricity (EVN), around 7 US cent/kWh as estimated.

Speaking at the decision-granting ceremony, Chairman of the Bac Lieu People’s Committee Duong Thanh Trung described the LNG-fueled power plant as a key project significantly driving up the local economy.

The project, which is the biggest foreign-invested project in the Mekong Delta so far, is expected to create thousands of jobs.

In September 2019, Houston-based Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (LNG Limited) Delta DeltaOE signed a deal to develop the project which will use LNG from a Louisiana-based project.

LNG Limited will deliver two million tons of LNG per year from its Magnolia project to Delta OE for a 20-year term and possible extension while DeltaOE deliver gas to the power plant, generate electricity, and sell its output to the province pursuant to a power purchase agreement (PPA).

Engineering Managing Director for DeltaOE Bobby Quintos said “Delta Offshore Energy’s Bac Lieu project addresses Vietnam’s need for an LNG import terminal to provide access to growing the LNG industry as a feedstock for electricity generation,” according to LNG Limited.