Vietnam’s first LNG terminal, located south of Ho Chi Minh City, is ready to operate, Vietnam Plus is reporting. About 20 million cubic meters of LNG has already passed through the terminal and it is expected that number will increase to 1.4 billion cubic meters a year.
For context: Vietnam has ambitious plans to phase out coal by 2050 with existing coal power plants being converted to LNG. Its goal is to have LNG provide about 37,000 megawatts of electricity by 2030.
What’s not addressed in this article: Earlier this week the state power provider blamed increased input costs from imported coal, and state-regulated electricity prices that were not enough to cover these increased costs, for its billion-dollar loss in the first nine months of the year. Switching to LNG without a well-developed local supply means local power providers will still be at the mercy of international markets.