BP to raise Vietnam gas deliveries by nearly 14 pct
HANOI - BP , operator of Vietnam's Nam Con Son gas project, said on Friday it planned to raise natural gas deliveries to power plants in the country's south by nearly 14 percent to 15 million cubic metres per day.
"The plan is to raise average natural gas output by the third quarter of 2007," a spokeswoman for the firm in Hanoi said.
BP currently sends 13.2 million cubic metres of gas a day to thermal power plants.
She also said BP would meet state oil monopoly Petrovietnam and dominant utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) group on March 13 to discuss a date to temporarily shut the Nam Con Son gas pipeline for maintenance.
BP had planned to suspend the offshore pipeline for two weeks in June for maintenance and repair but EVN has requested a delay until October when power consumption is lower, state media reported this week.
The suspension of the country's only operational pipeline could result in a 35 percent fall in daily power production, or around 70 million kilowatt hour, media reports said.
EVN Chief Executive Pham Le Thanh said power consumption jumped 20 percent so far this year, exceeding a 16 percent growth forecast by EVN last year, and the company would have to rotate outages due to the power shortfall.
Thanh also said EVN would buy more power from China this year to bridge the power shortage.
Hydro power plants produce 40 percent of Vietnam's electricity. Another 40 percent is generated by gas-fired plants and the remainder from coal-fired plants.
Hanoi plans to build 60 new plants by 2020 to meet surging consumption, and more than double gas-fired power generation capacity to 7,000 megawatts by 2010 from 3,000 megawatts now to reduce reliance on hydro and coal-fired power plants.
Reuters - March 2, 2007.
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