Vietnam’s Ca Mau gas pipeline project behind schedule
Wed, 6 September 2006
THE project to build a gas pipeline linking the PM3 offshore well to Ca Mau province will be completed in late 2007, a year behind schedule, the director general of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam) said recently. According to Mr Tran Ngoc Canh, the cause of the delay is due to investors requesting changes in the pipeline’s design, which will shorten its length and are estimated to save up to $10 million.
The pipeline will transport gas from the PM3 offshore well in the Cai Nuoc Vietnam-Malaysia joint exploitation field to fuel power plants in Ca Mau. Under the previous design, the pipeline would come ashore at the mouth of Ong Doc River and run along the river's bank to Ca Mau. The new plan is to cross the U Minh jungle, to both save costs and labour by reducing the length by nearly 12km.
The $300-million pipeline, which is a critical part of a project to build the Ca Mau gas-electricity-fertilizer complex, is expected to transport 2bn cum/yr of gas. PetroVietnam will contribute 30% of the total investment, while the remaining 70% will come from banks. The corporation has already borrowed $160 million from the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), and another $50 million from the Calyon, Chinfon, and Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ banks.
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