New energy projects to tap huge offshore gas field

The Ca Voi Xanh gas field is located about 100 km from the coast of Quang Nam province. ExxonMobil said in 2011 it had found hydrocarbons while drilling in the field, before making additional discoveries in the area in July 2012.

The U.S. energy giant will set up a wellhead platform, which will process natural gas to be produced from eight wells at Ca Voi Xanh field. An 88-km-long pipeline will connect the field with facilities onshore, PetroVietnam said.

The two oil and gas giants expect to produce the first gas from Ca Voi Xanh by 2021. It is hoped the field will produce about 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, almost the same as Vietnam’s total output of natural gas in 2015.

Ca Voi Xanh is Vietnam’s biggest ever gas discovery. It is estimated to hold reserves of 150 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which is three times bigger than the combined reserves of the country’s two most productive gas fields, Lan Tay and Lan Do, in the southern Nam Con Son Basin.

PetroVietnam signed an agreement with Quang Nam province over the weekend to begin selecting sites for the projects. The local provincial government has pledged to push forward infrastructure development in the area to support the proposed projects, the company said.

Vietnam’s national oil and gas group plans to set up a gas processing plant and a gas-fired power project with a generation capacity of about 1,400 megawatts in the Nui Thanh district of Quang Nam. These two projects are expected to be operational by 2023.

PetroVietnam also wants to set up another power project of similar capacity near Dung Quat refinery in the nearby province of Quang Ngai. PetroVietnam said it plans to supply about 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas to a petrochemical unit to be built near the refinery.