Page 16 - AsianOil Week 47

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Train 2 at its Gorgon LNG export terminal in Latin America: Argentina’s incentives for
Australia. The train was shut down in May for gas producers
scheduled maintenance and subsequently had Argentina’s government has kept tight
to be kept offline for repairs after weld quality currency controls in place for more
issues affecting its propane heat exchangers – or than a year in the hope of protecting
kettles – were discovered. foreign reserves following a collapse
Chevron had initially aimed to restart the in the peso, the national currency. Last
train in September but needed additional time week, though, the Central Bank said
to complete the repairs. The super-major will that natural gas producers taking part
now take Trains 1 and 3 offline – one after the in the country’s new “Gas Plan” would
other – to inspect their kettles for similar issues have free access to the official foreign
and carry out any repairs that may be neces- exchange market.
sary. Preparations for shutting down Train 1 are The “Gas Plan,” a much-anticipated
reported to be underway. stimulus plan designed to lift natural gas
Separately, two separate projects that will production, was unveiled by President
have an LNG import component were reported Alberto Fernández last month. This pack-
over the past week to be advancing in Vietnam. age of measures, known as Plan Gas 4,
On November 19, Nikkei Asian Review reported calls for the national oil company (NOC)
that PetroVietnam Power and a Vietnamese con- YPF to invest $1.8bn in gas production
struction firm had signed an MoU with Japan’s over the next three years.
Tokyo Gas and Marubeni to build an LNG-to- YPF, which suspended nearly all drilling
power project. The facility would be built in Viet- activity in the spring following the intro-
nam’s Quang Ninh Province at an estimated cost duction of strict public health measures, has
of JPY200bn ($1.9bn). The power plant would spoken positively about the new forex policy.
have a capacity of 1,500 MW and start-up is tar- Santiago Tanoira, the state-owned company’s
geted for 2026. vice-president of gas and energy, praised the
Then, on November 21, General Electric new incentives, saying: “We are returning to
(GE) signed an MoU with Vietnam’s EVN drill for gas.”
Genco3 to develop the Long Son LNG-to-power Meanwhile, Pan American Energy
project in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. GE will be (PAE), 50% owned by BP, has expressed
contracted to install the gas turbine technology satisfaction with the government’s four-
and certain other equipment, according to US year tender scheme, under which produc-
government officials on a visit to Hanoi. That ers can offer gas to the market at a price
project is being planned to start up by 2025. of up to $3.70 per mmBtu. The tenders
The MoUs come as various other projects are will cover 70mn cubic metres per day,
also advancing in Vietnam, where power demand equivalent to just over half of current
is rising and new capacity is urgently needed. production, and they may save the coun-
try around $5bn by reducing the need to
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping import gas to cover seasonal demand.
the global LNG sector then please click here for As Rodolfo Freyre, PAE’s vice-president of
NewsBase’s GLNG Monitor. gas, electricity and commercial development,

P16 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 47 26•November•2020