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AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil
Genco3 to develop the Long Son LNG-to- Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Com-
power project in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. pany 2 (PECC2) and Mitsubishi.
GE will be contracted to install the gas tur- The MoUs come as various similar projects
bine technology and certain other equipment, are also advancing in Vietnam, where power
according to US government officials on a visit demand is rising by roughly 10% per year and
to Hanoi. new capacity is urgently needed. It is also hoped
“GE will look to supply gas turbines and asso- that a shift towards LNG will help wean the
ciated equipment and services for the project country off coal as the energy transition gathers
estimated at more than $1bn over the lifetime pace.
of the project,” a company spokesperson was Indeed, last month, NewsBase reported that
quoted by Bloomberg as saying. Japan’s JERA, ExxonMobil and the city of Hai
That project is being planned to start up by Phong had signed an MoU to collaborate on
2025. It will also involve Pacific Corp., Vietnam’s another potential LNG-to-power project.
EAST ASIA
Japan expects OPEC+ to
delay production ramp up
POLICY THE Japanese oil industry expects OPEC+ to could depress national gasoline demand in
delay plans to ramp up production from the December and January. Consumption is already
start of 2021 owing to coronavirus’ (COVID-19) projected to slip 2% year on year this month, but
downward pressure on global oil demand. Sugimori said could it plunge as much as 9% in
The cartel is likely to stick to its existing December-January.
7.7mn barrel per day (bpd) production cut, the The resurgence in the number of
Petroleum Association of Japan’s (PAJ) presi- COVID-19 also threatens to bring an end to
dent, Tsutomu Sugimori, told a December 20 the recent recovery in the country’ refinery
press conference. runs, which hit a 13-week high in the seven
“Given the weaker oil demand amid the days to November 14. S&P Global Platts
resurgence of COVID-19 infections, OPEC+ is cited data published by the PAJ on Novem-
likely to keep the current curbs ... after January,” ber 18 as showing that run rates had climbed
Reuters quoted the executive, who is also chair- 4.7% to 2.48mn bpd.
man of leading Japanese refiner Eneos, as saying. The pandemic is exacerbating a long-
His comments were made after Bloomberg term downward trend in Japanese fos-
quoted unnamed OPEC+ delegates on Novem- sil fuel consumption, which has been
ber 11 as saying that member countries were driven by rising energy efficiency and
inclined to delay production increases, but had an ageing population.
not been swayed by some calls to deepen cuts. The Ministry of Energy, Trade and Indus-
The decision to refrain from upping production try (METI) revealed last week that final energy
limits comes amid lockdowns in Europe and consumption in fiscal year 2019-2020 had
record case numbers in the US that have driven contracted by 2% y/y to 335mn kilolitres of oil
California to introduce curfews. equivalent. The ministry noted that fossil fuel
The Japanese Ministry of Health, meanwhile, supplies had declined for a sixth year in a row,
revealed that the East Asian country’s cases had accounting for 85% of primary energy supply,
climbed by 2,508 on November 22 – the fourth while renewables and nuclear power had both
consecutive day of record-breaking numbers. expanded their share. Fossil fuels saw their share
Speaking at the start of the spike in cases, of the energy mix drop to its lowest level since
Sugimori warned that rising infection numbers fiscal 2011-12.
Week 47 26•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
