Energy in Vietnam: Oil, Gas and Nuclear Technology

[hakz2007]

Rosatom’s Plans in Vietnam

Electricity of Vietnam is working with the Rosatom state-run nuclear holding to build the first nuclear power plant in the Southeast Asian nation, Vietnam’s government said Thursday in a statement.

Vietnam plans to build two nuclear power plants in the southern province of Ninh Thuan, near the resort city of Nha Trang, the statement said. The total capacity of the two plants will be 4,000 megawatts initially, it said.

Construction of the first plant will start in 2014 and will be operational from 2020, it said. Officials at Electricity of Vietnam were not immediately available for comment.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/busine...am/405549.html

[nguyenthanhtung]

Combating Oil Spills in Vietnam
Updated at: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 9:22:37 AM

(VEN) - Oil spills were among environmental incidents in Vietnam in the recent years. How to effectively cope with these cases and claim compensation requires effective coordination between state management and law enforcement bodies to ensure these cases are handled in a timely and efficient manner.


Critical losses
On August 24, 2006 a 31,000DWT foreign vessel, La Palmas, carrying 23,000 tonnes of DO oil, crashed into a berth at the Saigon Port and made more than 1,500 tonnes of oil to spill. Besides, the incident also made 150 tonnes of petrol to spill from a leak in the berth pipeline system. Though the incident was responded in a timely manner, nine hours later the oil scum spread a large area of 40-50km downward the Saigon river lower section. Later, when the tide rose the oil scum was driven into the river upper section to a distance of 4-5km afar from the incident place. After half a month, the affected area covered a large expanse of 60,000ha along the Saigon River with 40,000ha critically affected.
Then, in June 2009, another ship, Nhat Thuan, sank deeply into Vung Tau sea area after two hour blast. At the time the incident occurred, the ship contained around 1,795cu.m of waste oil, according to the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
Oil spills often leave serious consequences on the environment and badly affect the natural resources, threatening economic development. Therefore, effective and synchronous measures are urgent to address the situation.
Seeking a way-out
Like other countries, Vietnam has applied mechanical, biological and chemical measures to combat oil spills. Accordingly, spilt oil is driven into a certain area to avoid pervasion. Then specialized pontoons are used to zone oil spill areas for further treatment. Later specialized machines are used to absorb oil scum and put it into special storage facilities. These measures help deal with oil spills in a quick and efficient manner.
Chemical and biological measures also work when mechanical measures are not available. Diverse oil spill dispersing and absorbing chemicals and microorganisms are used in those cases. However, mechanical measures are considered the best option to combat oil spills at rivers and seaports.
Besides, it is important to build specialized multi-functional vessels to combat oil spills on the sea in a professional manner. In early 2009, Bao Tin Shipyard (Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) and Hai Minh Company joined hands to build a multifunctional ship to respond to oil spills on sea areas. The ship is also the largest of its kind in the south until present.
Needed: Close cooperation among relevant state bodies
The director of the Institute of Legal Science (Ministry of Justice), Assoc. Prof. & Dr. Le Hong Hanh said due to the lax cooperation between law enforcement and state management bodies working in the environmental field many oil spill cases were yet to be brought to court.
The violators, here the domestic or foreign ship owners causing oil spills, are often required to take measures to deal with environmental pollution due to oil spills or pay compensation, said director Le Hong Hanh. Besides, international practices are also vital in settling disputes in the environmental field.
Dr. Hanh also asserted that a general solution to the problem was that the law enforcement authorities urged the violators to take full measures to deal with pollution and recover the environment. If the violators do not follow, then state management authorities evaluate the loss value and force the violators to compensate pursuant to existing laws./.
By Khac Hieu
http://ven.vn/news/detail/tabid/77/n...S/Default.aspx

[MikeyG]

HANOI (AFP) - – A boy was killed and a man left in critical condition when violence broke out during a protest at the site of a planned oil refinery in northern Vietnam, residents and hospital officials said Wednesday.

The incident occurred Tuesday more than 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Hanoi on land designated for the Nghi Son oil refinery.

Land disputes and complaints that residents have been cheated out of compensation have become the most common cause of protests in Vietnam, a mainly rural country that is rapidly industrialising.

In the latest incident, women, children and the elderly had been among those demonstrating peacefully for three days to protest "unfair" compensation they had received for their land, a 68-year-old retired government worker said.

He blamed police for the death in Tuesday's clashes, explaining that he had covered the boy's face with a cloth as residents carried the body home.

"I could not say whether he was shot or beaten to death. But I can confirm that he was killed during a clash, and he was killed because of the police," said the retired government worker, who declined to be named.

A groundbreaking ceremony occurred two years ago for the 6.2-billion-dollar refinery, a joint venture between state-owned Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp (PetroVietnam), Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co and Mitsui Chemicals Inc, and Kuwait Petroleum International.

The refinery, the country's second, was due to be operational by 2013, officials said at the time, although it was not clear how far construction had got.

On Tuesday evening angry residents descended on the home of the local government's chairman, causing damage inside the house and burning two motorcycles, the 68-year-old said.

Local government officials were not immediately available for comment. District police confirmed that an incident had occurred Tuesday but gave no details. "This case is under investigation," an officer said.

A 60-year-old woman cited witnesses from her family as saying that a policeman had shot the child in the stomach, wounded a woman's hand and shot a man in the head. The boy was reportedly 12 years old.

The wounded man was in critical condition, according to an administrator at the main hospital in the northern province of Thanh Hoa.

The Dan Tri online news site quoted the province's head of public security, Dong Dai Loc, as saying one person had died and two were wounded in the clashes.

The 68-year-old retired government worker said: "They did not do anything wrong. They remained calm, while there had always been hundreds of police, uniformed and plainclothes, watching them."

The bee.net.vn online news site printed what it said was a police statement about the incident. It said some people threw bricks and stones at police, who fired a warning before "extremists" tried to take the police gun. The statement did not clarify who fired the fatal shot.

The retired government worker said things were quiet on Wednesday after local officials went into hiding but tensions could flare again "if the authorities do not deal with the situation properly".

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/2010052...y-8569f9c.html

[hakz2007]

EVN determined to ensure process

To connect the Son La hydroelectric power plant to the national grid, Electricity of Vietnam is focusing on building two 500kV electric lines.

The first line will run from Son La to Hoa Binh and onto Nho Quan and the second line will stretch from Son La to Hiep Hoa.

Ironing out the snags

Construction on the 500kv Son La-Hiep Hoa line started on September 20, 2009 and is expected to completed in March 2011. The line with an investment of VND2,884 billion, stretches through the five provinces of Son La, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc. Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang.

The amount of compensation for the land clearance in Vinh Phuc province has met its target and the province will have a total of 92 pylons over 42km. the only problem has been the slowness of the construction of the residential areas for resettled people and the payment of the pylons managed by the Northeast Forestry Production and Science Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The consultancy unit is currently evaluating the impact of the project on the military’s work and their everyday lives.

Phu Tho province has now handed over 120 out of a total of 166 pylons. The National Power Transmission Company (NPT) says that the slow land clearances have been due to the line’s traversing over different kinds of environment.

Phu Tho province’s People’s Committee and Department of Environment and Natural Resources have also been slow to approve the land clearance plans.

Do Huu Hao, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade has worked with the leaders of Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho provinces to discuss measures to deal with obstacles in land clearance. Accordingly, Phu Tho province’s People’s Committee will accept plans to complete the necessary procedures to build resettlement residential areas in June as quickly as possible.

Phung Quang Hung, the Vice Chairman of Vinh Phuc province’s People’s Committee said that the province considered the new line a priority. It has set up a steering committee on land clearances and has encouraged the local people to hand over land before June 30.

http://dangcongsan.vn/cpv/Modules/Ne...7#VoOASiCDs1Eu

[hakz2007]

Oil and gas group steps up restructuring plans

The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) is boosting its restructuring to increase its competitiveness in the market while limiting any competition from its subsidiaries.　
According to the head of PVN’s Board of Internal Controllers, Phan Thi Hoa, PVN will only hold 51 percent of the shares of its subsidiary companies that produce strategic products which can affect the national economy.

The group will also reduce its holdings in the PetroVietnam Construction Joint Stock Corporation and the Drilling Mud Joint Stock Corporation to 36 percent, said Hoa. PVN also plans to cut its capital stake in the PetroVietnam Insurance Joint Stock Corporation to 25 percent by 2015.

Moreover, the group is set to complete its transformation from being a holding company to becoming a single-member limited liability company on July 1 in line with the Business Law.

It also plans to turn the PetroVietnam Gas Corporation and the Petec Trading and Investment Corporation into joint stock companies, finish a project to change the Vietsovpetro Joint Venture’s forms of operation and list the shares of several of its subsidiaries on the stock market.

Under the plans, PVN will gradually curb its external investments and focus more on production, said Hoa.

http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Oil-a...106/116579.vov

[hakz2007]

ASEAN Energy Ministers to meet in Da Lat City

The 28th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting (AMEM) and other related meetings will be held in Da Lat City in the Central Highland province of Lam Dong from July 19-23.

Themed “Energy and Climate Change”, the meeting will bring together about 500 international delegates, including ministers from 10 ASEAN countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK), China, India, New Zealand, and Australia, and leaders from Russia and the US.

Along side the 28th AMEM due to open on July 22, a number of associated meetings will take place, such as the East Asia energy working group meeting, a senior officials’ meeting with Russia the US, China, the RoK, and Japan, and a dialogue between ministers and businesses to analyse challenges and opportunities in energy. Additional sideline activities will also be held, including an energy exhibition, aan ASEAN energy forum, and an energy awards presentation.

At a press briefing in Hanoi on July 9, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Do Huu Hao, said that linking electric grids among ASEAN countries and in the Mekong sub-region will bring greater efficiency and lower costs for investors and users.

Mr Hao reported on the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Co-operation (APAEC) in the 2010-2015 period which was approved at the 27th AMEM. This plan covers ASEAN electric grids, a trans-ASEAN gas pipeline, coal and clean coal technology, energy conservation and efficiency, renewable energy, regional energy policies and plans and civil nuclear energy.

http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/ASEAN...107/117323.vov

[hakz2007]

PetroVietnam breaks ground on nation’s largest thermal plant

PetroVietnam, the state-owned oil and gas group, broke ground Sunday on a 5,200-megawatt power system.

The state-owned energy consortium broke ground on the smallest of the three-plant Song Hau, on July 18. The 1,200-megawatt Song Hau 1 Thermal Plant with a cost an estimated US$1.5 billion.

It’s 2,000 megawatt sister plants (Song Hau 2 & 3) will be developed with the help of international partners.

The three-plant center will occupy 367 hectares; it is projected to go online by 2016.

PetroVietnam has already developed a 1,500 megawatt electrical plant in Ca Mau Province and plans to throw up thermal plants in Thai Binh, Quang Binh and Soc Trang provinces. It also has proposed a 1,110 megawatt hydro plant in Laos. The Song Hau project represents the consortium’s largest investment in electro-power to date.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pa...719185304.aspx

[hakz2007]

German Bank to Fund EUR120M for Vietnam Energy Project

The German Reconstruction Bank (KfW) signed a nine-year credit contract with the state-run Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) in Hanoi on Sept 7 to finance EUR120 million for the project “Enhancing energy efficiency in rural areas” in Vietnam. The investor, EVN, will provide EUR42 million in reciprocal capital for the EUR162-million project, the government of Vietnam said on its website late Sept 7, adding that the KfW will disburse the capital through June 30, 2014. The project will be carried out during the 2010-2013 period in 26 provinces across Vietnam in order to upgrade low and average-voltage power grids in rural areas, reduce power loss rate, and ensure safe and stable power supply. Power loss rate in Vietnam’s rural areas are estimated at between 20% and 35%. Currently, downgraded power grids and the lack of power transmisson lines are among major causes of Vietnam’s power shortage.

http://www.ngocentre.org.vn/content/...energy-project

Vietnam’s growth faces unclean energy threat: Finnish minister

Vietnam’s economy will face a serious sustainable development challenge if it does not adopt clean and efficient energy practices, Finnish labor minister Anni Sinnemäki said early this week.
Sinnemäki, who was leading a Finnish business delegation on a visit to Vietnam this week, said Vietnam, as one of ten countries where climate change would have the most serious impacts, should consider alternatives as it develops.

“I am very impressed with the economic growth here in Vietnam but worried for people who have suffered the impact of climate change,” the minister said in a meeting of Vietnamese and Finnish businesses, also attended by her Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Production and consumption have increased around the globe while the “biocapacity” of the planet has decreased, creating an ecological and environmental imbalance on earth, she said.

Climate change was a challenge not for Vietnam and its government but for the entire world and all the governments, said the minister.

Sinnemäki said the Vietnamese government’s policy to support and encourage local businesses to achieve energy efficiency in production was a good measure to fight climate change.

Vietnamese labor minister Ngan said Vietnam was on the recovery road after the global crisis and needed modern and energy efficient technologies to develop sustainably.

She said the use of old technologies in production was a trend in the country that it had a bearing on climate change.

The Vietnamese government has asked local businesses to choose clean and energy efficient solutions, and called on foreign investors to introduce and transfer modern technologies to Vietnam, Ngan said.

Sinnemäki said Finland has been one of the world’s leading countries in developing clean and energy efficient technologies for decades and would share this with local businesses.

Santtu Hulkkonen, executive director of Cleantech Finland, said Finnish businesses considered Vietnam a potential market and some companies like Kemira have been present here for years, seeking new opportunities.

Cleantech Finland is a collective of 2,000 firms that specialize in many areas including energy efficiency, clean industrial processes, renewable energy, waste management and wastewater treatment.

The group said in a statement that Vietnam has a large demand for wastewater treatment and environmentally friendly energy sources.

Emissions from fossil fuel combustion and wastewater released by industrial processes have damaged the environment and affected people’s lives, the group said.

Hulkkonen told Thanh Nien Weekly Finnish firms were at present involved in ten projects, worth about 100 million euros, that deal with transferring clean and energy efficient technologies to Vietnam. About 13 to 20 other projects worth 40 to 50 million euros were about to be implemented, he said.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pa...910221430.aspx

[hakz2007]

NWT Uranium Corp. Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute

NWT Uranium Corp. (TSX VENTURE:NWT)(FRANKFURT:NMV) ("NWT" or "The Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute ("VAEI"). The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has classified Uranium as a mineral of national interest with all uranium related agreements approved directly from the highest levels of government. Discussions regarding NWT's potential involvement in Vietnam's uranium exploration sector have been ongoing over the past year with various government agencies involved. This MOU will set the roadmap for continued and further co-operation between NWT and VAEI.
Under the current MOU, NWT will be directly involved in all aspects of Uranium exploration including analyzing and assessing uranium ore, evaluating technical and economic feasibility of properties and ultimately, and assistance with developing the Country's nuclear energy sector.
The management team of NWT Uranium believes that this MOU is the first step to realizing its strategy in Vietnam of discovering, exploring and mining Uranium properties in the country. In conjunction with the Institute for Technology of Radioactive Rare Elements ("ITRRE"), a government agency reporting to VAEI, NWT is currently planning to execute the terms of this agreement.

http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele...WT-1314861.htm

PetroVietnam Gas to Cut Initial Offering by 50% to Avoid Flooding Market

PetroVietnam Gas Corp., a unit of Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, plans to reduce the size of its initial public offering by about 50 percent to avoid flooding the stock market with too many shares.

The fuel supplier expects to raise at least 2.9 trillion dong ($149 million) selling 95 million shares, or a 5 percent stake, General Director Do Khang Ninh said in a telephone interview from Ho Chi Minh City today. Ninh had said Sept. 6 that PetroVietnam Gas would raise 5.87 trillion dong by selling a 10 percent stake.

“We revised the share sale plan because we were afraid a 10 percent stake would be too much for the market,” Ninh said today. The sale would take place sometime in October and the minimum bid remains unchanged at 31,000 dong a share, he said.

Ninh declined to give a timeframe for when the company may sell another 5 percent stake to the public.

The benchmark VN Index gained 0.4 percent to 449.01 at the 11 a.m. close. The gauge has declined 9.3 percent so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

PetroVietnam Gas, which supplies fuel to produce 40 percent of Vietnam’s electrical output and 30 percent of the nation’s fertilizer, will probably be listed on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, the country’s main bourse, a year after the share sale, according to a statement on the company’s website.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...ng-market.html

[hakz2007]

Vietnam seeks term crude imports for Dung Quat refinery

Vietnam is seeking to import crude from various sources for its domestic refinery to produce more diesel and free up local supply from Bach Ho and Nam Rong-Doi Moi fields for exports, industry sources said on Tuesday.

State oil company PetroVietnam inked on Monday a framework agreement with BP's joint venture in Russia, TNK-BP, to buy Russian ESPO crude oil blend.

The first cargo of 100,000 tons will load in November in the Pacific Ocean port of Kozmino, the outlet for the blend, as a part of the deal.

One source said Vietnam is looking at securing a 100,000-ton cargo of the medium-heavy sweet ESPO each month for a year under the framework deal which is being finalized.

Vietnamese officials are likely to meet TNK-BP next week to discuss details, the sources said.

"ESPO's diesel yield is quite high so there's more incentive to process ESPO," Sam Saw, a Singapore-based analyst at FACTS Global Energy said.

The move will allow better quality light sweet Bach Ho to be exported to Japan and South Korea, he said.

PV Oil, a subsidiary of the state oil group, signed in June a contract with Dung Quat to supply 300,000 tons of crude, including Ca Ngu Vang, Doi Moi and Bach Ho, by the year end.

Vietnam's crude oil exports between January and August plunged 44.2 percent from the same period last year to an estimated 5.49 million tons, or 165,600 barrels per day, the government said last month.

ESPO will be blended with local sweet grades to reduce its sulphur content, the sources said.

Vietnam's 140,000-bpd refinery can only process sweet crude.

PetroVietnam is evaluating different grades of crude oil for its Dung Quat refinery and has used light sweets such as Azeri Light and Malaysia's Miri and Kikeh, the sources said.

It has signed earlier another framework agreement with BP to buy term crude, one source said.

Negotiations are under way to finalise the grades and other contract details, he said, adding that the five-year term deal may start next year.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pa...926123808.aspx

[hakz2007]

Soco Shares Plunge on Plans to Plug Its Vietnam Oil Well on Low Flow Rates

Soco International Plc, a U.K. energy explorer in Africa and Southeast Asia, plunged in London trading after saying it will plug and abandon its appraisal well off the coast of Vietnam.

The shares fell as much as 23 percent to 348.8 pence, the most in 12 years, and traded at 371.7 pence at 9:16 a.m. The Te Giac Den appraisal well, or TGD-2X, found hydrocarbons and “produced both black oil and gas,” which “flowed at sub- commercial rates,” Soco said today in a statement.

“It’s shocking for us,” Soco Chief Financial Officer Roger Cagle said today by phone. “In this particular well, it’s certainly a different result than we were expecting. We have tons of oil. The problem is that we don’t have enough gas” in the reservoir for the crude to flow to the surface, he said.

Soco fell the most in 20 months Sept. 3 after deciding to plug and abandon its first well in the Nganzi block onshore the Democratic Republic of Congo. The explorer planned to quadruple recoverable oil reserves as it targeted 700 million barrels of resources, Chief Executive Officer Ed Story said in August.

“The surprise failure of the TGD appraisal in Vietnam is likely to leave the company with few options to drive the share price in the near future,” Richard Griffith, a London-based analyst at Evolution Securities Ltd., wrote to clients today. He downgraded Soco shares to “Sell” from “Reduce.”

Soco has also completed two offshore wells in the TGD development, which will pump crude in mid-2011, the London-based company said today.

Soco is examining plans and may continue to explore and appraise the TGD area in Block 16-1, Cagle said.

PTT Exploration & Production Pcl, Thailand’s only publicly traded oil and gas explorer, and Vietnam Oil & Gas Group, the state-owned producer known as PetroVietnam, are the partners in the project.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-1...low-rates.html

[hakz2007]

Russia-Vietnam deal to power up low-carbon energy sector

South-east Asian countries sign agreements with Russia and Japan to build the country's first wave of nuclear reactors

Russia yesterday signed a $5.6bn (£3.5bn) deal with Vietnam to help the south-east Asian country build its first nuclear power plant and increase its hydroelectric capacity.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev witnessed the signing after talks over the weekend with Vietnam's president Nguyen Minh Triet.

Medvedev told reporters after the meeting that the power plant will account for a great share of Vietnam's energy market and allow it to develop into a modern state. Triet said the deal shows the confidence Vietnam has in Russian technology.

Construction on the plant is expected to start in 2014. An official at Russian state nuclear conglomerate Rosatom told AFP the construction cost of the two-reactor plant is estimated at more than $2.5bn.

The nuclear agreement is the centrepiece of a wide-ranging deal that will see the two countries co-operate on the construction of a hydropower station and work together on a number of oil and military projects.

Meanwhile, Vietnam also yesterday signed a $14bn deal with Japan for Japanese businesses to build two nuclear power reactors in Vietnam.

The reactors will be built in the south-eastern province of Ninh Thuan and are scheduled to start operations in 2021, with a combined output of 2GW.

Vietnam plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030 as its economy expands.

Construction deals for five reactors have so far been agreed upon, including the two to be awarded to Japan and one to Russia over the weekend. Russia also won the rights to build two reactors in December last year.

Japan and Vietnam also signed a deal on the mining of rare earth minerals.

http://www.businessgreen.com/busines...deal-power-low

Philippines and Vietnam Future Nuclear Energy Plans and Deals

1. The Philippine Energy Plan 2007-2014 indicates room for the existing Bataan Nuclear Power Plant as well as four more nuclear plants, the earliest to be commissioned by 2015. Candidate sites are also opening up across the country: in Palawan, Cagayan, Cavite, Negros Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte, Bataan, Negros Occidental, Quezon, Batangas, and Sarangani, the district now represented in congress by boxing legend Manny Pacquiao

Electricity in the Philippines is the third most expensive in all of Asia, according to studies by University of the Philippines engineering professor Rowaldo del Mundo, with power in Iloilo City the most expensive in the whole world according to the Freedom from Debt Coalition, costing consumers PHP 12.95 per kilowatt-hour. This means that an average refrigerator alone, consuming about 1100 kWh per year, costs a household about PHP 1,187 per month in electricity bills, not yet counting the family’s other electrical appliances. This translates to spending of about 18% of per capita GDP only on powering a single refrigerator.


2. Vietnam signed nuclear power deals with Russia and Japan, leaders from the three countries said

Under a $5 billion agreement, Russia will build Vietnam's first nuclear power plant, with two power units, each with a capacity of 1.2 gigawatts. Construction is expected to start in 2014.

Vietnam's agreement with Japan for nuclear reactor construction is worth an estimated $14.4 billion and calls for two reactors in the southeastern Vietnamese province of Ninh Thuan with a combined output of 2 gigawatts, The Asahi Shimbun newspaper of Japan reports. They are scheduled to go online in 2021

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/11/phi...e-nuclear.html

[hakz2007]

TNK-BP signs cooperation agreement with PetroVietnam

MOSCOW, November 15 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia’s number three oil producer TNK-BP company has signed a cooperation agreement with Vietnam’s state-run corporation PetroVietnam, which envisages creation of a joint venture in Russia, the Prime Tass economic news agency said on Monday, quoting a report of the Russian company.

Under the document, PetroVietnam will support TNK-BP assess to the Vietnamese oil and gas market through the purchase of BP’s stake in the offshore gas-production block 06-1, Prime Tass said.

The agreement also confirms TNK-BP’s intention to continue expanding production and processing business of the company in Vietnam, the economic news agency said.

In addition, TNK-BP will support PetroVietnam’s plans to develop business for the production of hydrocarbons in Russia, Prime Tass said. With this in mind, the companies agreed to start talks on the setting up of a joint venture in Russia.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2....3214&PageNum=0

[hakz2007]

Vietnam firms get serious about energy savings

As power outages become more frequent, many enterprises are looking to use energy-saving technologies and products and experts say the trend is set to strengthen in the coming time.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of the Ho Chi Minh City Energy Conservation Center, said his agency provided consultancy packages costing from VND5 billion (US$260,000) to VND800 billion ($41 million) for hundreds of companies over the past three months.

He said saving power helps not only generate more profits for firms but also ease demand in the country.

Early this month, Electricity of Vietnam, the nation’s power utility, said the country may fall short of power needs by 3-4 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) this year due to serious water shortages in major hydropower plant reservoirs.

Tuoc said with more and more businesses expressing interest energy-saving, he foresees the appearance of many energy services companies (ESCO) in Vietnam soon.

The ESCO is a business providing a broad range of comprehensive energy solutions including designs and implementation of energy savings and conservation, energy infrastructure outsourcing, power generation and energy supply, and risk management.

The Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation, which became effective this year, will also encourage the development of ESCO, experts say.

The law requires labeling products using energy conservation technology to encourage production of such products and gradually eliminate outdated equipment, reducing energy consumption in production.

Bank loans

Partly private Techcombank has recently launched an offer under which enterprises can obtain loans of up to 70 percent of the value of their energy-saving projects at 15- 17 percent interest rates for a maximum term of seven years.

Earlier, VietinBank had coordinated with the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out the Promotion of Energy Conservation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (PECSME) project to lend to firms in brick-making, ceramics, paper, garment and textile and food processing sectors. Total loans have touched $14.1 million so far.

Vietnam saved more than 1.18 billion kWh of electricity last year, 42 percent more than its target, accounting for 1.4 percent of national output, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The country expects to save one billion kWh of power this year, or 1 percent of production, the Electricity of Vietnam said on January 4.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pa...122143426.aspx

[hakz2007]

Hydro-electric power plant built in central Viet Nam

Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Dakdrinh Hydro-Power JSCstarted the construction of the Dadrinh hydro-power plant in Quang Ngaiprovince on Jan.23.

Located in Son Tay district's Son Dung commune and Kon Tum province'sKongPlong district on the Tra Khuc River , the 125MW will be thebiggest hydro-power plant in Central Viet Nam .

The first turbine is scheduled to go into operation in September 2013 and the second in December of the same year.

Total investment for the project amounts to 3,423 billion VND (170 million USD).

Dakdrinh Hydro-Power JSC was established in March 2007 by PetroVietnam,the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, the InfrastructureConstruction and Development Corporation and the Song Da Corporation.

According to Dadrinh Hydro-power JSC, when construction is completed,the hydro-power plant will supply electricity to the national grid andwater to the lower section of the Tra Khuc basin in the dry season,while controlling flooding in the rainy season. It would also act as aclean water resource for the Dung Quat Economic Zone.

Nguyen Xuan Hue, chairman of Quang Ngai's People Committee, said theproject would contribute significantly to the economic development ofthe provinces of Quang Ngai and Kon Tum.

http://www.hydroworld.com/index/disp...345599307.html

[tuanhung]

does vietnam have any plans to go for wind power?? they could erect them along the coastline or inland on mountains...

[vttnguyen]

I still think, they should start with the wind and solar power first.

[hakz2007]

Southeast Asia’s 1st nuclear plant will start in Vietnam in 2020

South East Asia's first nuclear power plant will be operational in Vietnam in 2020 after six years of construction, as demand for nuclear energy remains strong in the region in the post-Fukushima era, a nuclear conference was told Monday.

It will be commissioned two years after Bangladesh completes its Roopur Nuclear Power Project and becomes the latest country in the region to develop such energy.

More: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...918&sec=nation

Vietnam joins nuclear non-proliferation talks

Vietnam’s nuclear non-proliferation stance and its nuclear energy development for peaceful, socio-economic development purposes have received the applause of participants in an international workshop that opened in Jakarta, Indonesia, on June 6.

The workshop, entitled “The future of nuclear non-proliferation treaty: perspectives of ASEAN” drew more than 60 scholars, researchers and representatives from state nuclear energy agencies and relevant organisations of ASEAN and foreign embassies in Indonesia.

More:http://english.vovnews.vn/Home/Vietn...116/127285.vov

[hạc thành]

Obviously, Vietnam should follow a clean energy strategy, although it's very high cost.
3000 km coast land provides us abundant wind energy, and the latitude location gives high intensify of solar radiation.
That's better than getting high risk of nuclear power, or hydro power plants like Ho Ho or A Vuong. Meanwhile, the thermal power plants are so polutted.

[hakz2007]

Current electricity prices only benefit rich people: EVN

VietNamNet Bridge – Chair of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) Dao Van Hung believes that the current electricity pricing mechanism is not reasonable, because it only benefits rich people and encourages people and enterprises to use energy-wasting equipment.

Do you think that the current electricity pricing mechanism is unreasonable?

We think that we need to keep the electricity prices at low levels in order to support the poor people. In fact, the current electricity prices only benefit the rich people, because the poor only use little electricity. The current prices encourage people and enterprises to use the equipments which use energy ineffectively, thus causing the loss of trillions of dong.

Also, the low prices cannot encourage people use electricity economically.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/busi...ople--evn.html

No alternatives for nuclear power by 2050: Deputy PM

There will not be any energy sources which could be used to replace nuclear power in Vietnam by the year 2050, said Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.

Vietnam continues to develop new energy sources as an alternative for nuclear power, but, according to the Vietnamese electricity development strategy, by 2050, the country will not be able to find a sufficient source, the deputy PM said in an interview at the ongoing 13th National Assembly.

The Government has issued a mechanism to support wind power development and also instructed ministries and agencies to study power production based on solar and wave power, Hai added.

http://www.eco-business.com/news/no-...050-deputy-pm/