Demand for LPG will lead to more imports and searches

The country would have to increase gas imports and implement more gas exploitation projects to offset a shortage of roughly 3 billion cubic metres by 2015, said Do Khang Ninh, general director of the country’s key gas supplier PV Gas.

Ninh said that the local demand for gas, especially from power plants, was increasing rapidly and was much higher than the domestic supply, estimating that the domestic supply accounted for roughly 8 billion cubic metres against the annual demand of nearly 10 billion cubic metres.

In Viet Nam, gas is used to generate 36 billion kWh of power and produce 800,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 100,000 tonnes of oil, and 700,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas per year.

Ninh said that local gas- fuelled power plants forecast a severe shortage of gas during next year’s dry season, adding that 20 million cubic metres of gas was used per day at power and fertiliser plants.

The country’s existing gas exploitation projects have already been fully operational and the demand is estimated to reach roughly 13 billion cubic metres by 2015 and 17 billion cubic metres by 2025, according to Ninh.

Meanwhile, the progress of new gas exploitation projects has been slower than expected. Domestic gas prices have been strongly volatile, discouraging the private sector from investing in the industry.

As a result, the nation will have to increase imports to meet the high demands forecasted in the coming years.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam has total gas reserves of around 700 billion cubic metres but has only extracted about 90 billion cubic metres.

Following recent surveys conducted by PV Gas with foreign partners off the coast of the central region, Da Nang, Dong Hoi and Quang Binh were identified as having high gas potential.

PV Gas said it would keep checking those localities and possibly drill next year. — VNS

Tags: Vietnam LPG