Over the past few decades Vietnam has emerged as an important oil and natural gas producer in Southeast Asia. Vietnam has boosted exploration activities, allowed for greater foreign company investment and cooperation in the oil and gas sectors, and introduced market reforms to support the energy industry. These measures have helped to increase oil and gas production. Also, the country’s rapid economic growth, industrialization, and export market expansion have spurred domestic energy consumption.
The Vietnamese government has considered importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the southern part of the country to meet growing natural gas demand and fill the supply gap. PetroVietnam (PV) Gas, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, signed a memorandum of understanding and a front-end engineering and development (FEED) contract with the Tokyo Gas Company to develop the Thi Vai LNG terminal in the Vung Tau province. The terminal is expected to be operational in 2017. PV Gas also signed a gas sales and purchase agreement with Gazprom of Russia on March 6, 2014. Under the agreement, PV Gas will receive 48 Bcf/y via the Thi Vai LNG terminal. A second terminal, Son My LNG, is also planned for operations starting in 2018, although construction has yet to begin.