PROJECT TYPE

Gas-fired combined-cycle power complex

PROJECT LOCATION

Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces, Vietnam

PROJECT STAGE

Planning

PROJECT OWNER

Sojitz, Pacific Group, ENGIE

PROJECT VALUE

$20bn

PROJECT CAPACITY

3GW

The Quang Ngai power complex planned for the Quang Ngai and Quang Nam provinces of Vietnam will include four 750MW gas-fired combined-cycle power plants.

The project will have a combined capacity of 3GW and will generate power using gas supplied by the Ca Voi Xanh gas field (Blue Whale gas field), which is located approximately 80km offshore of central Vietnam.

The total investment in the combined-cycle power plants and the offshore field development is estimated to be $20bn.

The $1.78bn first phase of the Quang Ngai project will include the development of the power plants in the Dung Quat Economic Zone (DQEZ). The first plant in the DQEZ is expected to commence operations in Q4 2023, while the second plant will commence operations in Q2 2024.

Two of the power plants will be located in the DQEZ in the Bình Sơn district of the Quang Ngai province of Vietnam.

The other two will be located in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (CLOEZ) in the Nui Thanh district of the Quang Nam province.

The Quang Ngai gas-fired power complex in the DQEZ will cover an area of approximately 86 hectares. The main plant will cover an area of 55 hectares, while the operations and maintenance area will cover 6 hectares.

The DQEZ power complex will also include a port area, pump station and pipeline for supplying cooling water, all of which will cover an area of 25 hectares. The Dung Quat Economic Zone Authority completed site clearance for 25 out of the 55 hectares of the power plant by July 2017.

The power plants in the CLEZ will cover an area of 118 hectares.

Three of the four plants in the Quang Ngai power complex will be developed by Electricity of Vietnam (EVN). Petrovietnam Exploration Production Corporation (Petrovietnam) will be the main investor in the project.

The Ca Voi Xanh gas field was discovered in August 2015 and is estimated to contain 150 billion cubic metres of recoverable resources. It is the biggest gas project in Vietnam and is expected to become a crucial gas source for central Vietnam, as well as the southern part of the country.

The offshore project is being jointly developed by Exxon Mobil, Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PVN), and Petrovietnam in two phases, with first gas planned to be produced by the end of 2023.

The first phase will supply gas to the Quang Ngai gas-fired power complex, while the second phase will supply gas to either a fifth power plant or to the Dung Quat refinery complex.

The field is expected to produce between up to ten billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year, of which 1bcm will be supplied to Dung Quat refinery for processing. The gas produced by the field will be supplied to a gas processing plant in the CLOEZ through an 88km pipeline, which will further transfer the gas to the power plants.

Sembcorp Group’s subsidiary Sembcorp Utilities signed a memorandum of understanding with the People’s Committee of Quang Ngai Province to develop one of the two plants in the DQEZ. It will develop the plant under a 20-year build-operate-transfer arrangement.

Sembcorp contracted Power Consulting Company to carry out a geological survey as part of the feasibility study for the power plant planned to be developed in the DQEZ.