Page 9 - AfrElec Week 44 2022 1
P. 9
GLNG ASIA GLNG
Novatek still eyes
Vietnamese LNG market
MARKETS RUSSIA’S Novatek is looking to export LNG to PetroVietnam on developing LNG and power
Vietnam for existing and planned power plants plant projects in the southeast Asian country.
in the country, company CEO Leonid Mikhel- And four years earlier, the Russian company
son said on October 28, according to Interfax. signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
Mikhelson said he did “not know when” with TotalEnergies and Siemens on collaborat-
the company might be able to realise a project ing on LNG sales and developing infrastructure
that it had intended to implement with Germa- for newly built gas-fired plants in Vietnam.
ny’s Siemens and France’s TotalEnergies. Both Much has changed since those agreements
Western companies have phased down their were reached. Novatek has been targeted by
Russian activities in light of Moscow’s invasion international sanctions, barring its access to
of Ukraine. financing, technologies and co-operation, and
“There is another [project] there. And in this has led to Arctic LNG-2, its second lique-
principle the consumer [is] there, a power plant, faction project, falling behind schedule. It is no
is being built, launched in 2024,” Mikhelson said. longer expected to be completed by 2023 as pre-
“And there is an existing one in the same region. viously planned, and the time frame is essentially
I just spoke with the minister, it uses about 1bn up in the air.
cubic metres of gas, while PetroVietnam’s own Vietnam has been striving to curb its use of
production is falling, so we could actually add coal as part of its climate ambitions, viewing nat-
[gas] there. The whole question is the cost.” ural gas as a substitute. As such, it has proposed
He added that the company was considering a series of new power plant and LNG projects,
building a regasification terminal in Vietnam. but progress has been slow. The sharp increase
Novatek last December signed a co-oper- in gas prices over the past year will likely be a
ation agreement with Vietnam’s state-owned disincentive to investment.
Week 44 03•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9
