3:26:38 PM | 7/8/2005
The Minister of Industry has urged the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) to develop a strategic plan to exploit proven gas fields and operate the Bach Ho associate gas project.
Minister Hoang Trung Hai made this statement in a meeting on Sunday to celebrate the corporation's 10th anniversary since the first gas was delivered from the Bach Ho (White Tiger) oil field in
The occasion also marked the 15th anniversary ceremony of the establishment of PetroVietnam Gas Processing and Trading (PV Gas), a PetroVietnam subsidiary.
The minister urged the corporation to increase its efforts seeking potential gas reserves and in completing key national gas industry development projects.
He attached significant importance to PV Gas contributions to the country's industrial growth in the past and urged them to contribute more in the future.
The minister recognized PV Gas’s attempts to meet 30 per cent of the country's demand for urea fertilizer and nearly 40 per cent of its liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) needs.
PetroVietnam has been ahead of its time by outlining a plan in the early 1990s to use gas by-products from drilling, also known as associated gas, in the Bach Ho oil field rather than simply wasting it.
The PV Gas was formed in 1990 to take charge of the Bach Ho associate gas project, which aimed to provide gas to the Phu My gas-power-fertilizer complex in Tan Thanh District, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province.
The US$450 million Bach Ho gas project was seen as a great challenge at the time for the country's young gas industry as well as the corporation's fledgling PV Gas subsidiary, said PV Gas director Do Khang Ninh.
The initial project included a pipeline system, a gas compression platform, a gas processing plant, LPG terminals and gas stations.
Under the guidelines of the government and PetroVietnam, the project delivered the first gas onshore in 1995 to fuel the Ba Ria Power Plant, which has a daily consumption of one million cu.m, reducing the need for the State to import diesel fuel.
"The first gas from the Bach Ho oil field was the first step in
To date, PV Gas has supplied 15 billion cu.m of gas for industrial and domestic use, of which 10.7 billion cu.m of associate gas was extracted from the Bach Ho oil field. The other 4.3 billion cu.m of natural gas was provided by the Nam Con Son gas project; which PV Gas also holds a stake in.
Nam Con Son gas project includes a 400km pipeline pumping gas from the Lan Tay-Lan Do natural gas field in the
PV Gas-controlled gas projects now produce 4 billion cu.m of gas, 350,000 tons of LPG and 300,000 tons of condensate annually.
PV Gas is also working on a low-pressure gas project, which will fuel industrial zones in the key economic areas in the south, said Ninh.
VNS,
Vietnamese
