MOSCOW (MRC) -- International oil major ExxonMobil is working on a final development plan for the Ca Voi Xanh gas project in central Vietnam, amid moves by the government to refocus on domestic upstream development while dialing back on imported LNG projects, reported S&P Global.
The move will also provide Vietnam with a solution to its energy security concerns, as coal-fired power projects are getting difficult to fund and its large offshore discoveries have remained untapped for decades.
"ExxonMobil continues to progress preparatory work (for) Ca Voi Xanh. We completed front-end engineering and design for the project in May 2020, and are working on the final development plan," an ExxonMobil's spokesperson told S&P Global recently in response to inquiries about speculation that the oil major had plans to exit the gas project.
Ca Voi Xanh, one of the largest gas fields discovered in Vietnam, also involves building a pipeline connecting the field to a gas processing plant and associated power and plants.
ExxonMobil said in 2011 that it found hydrocarbons while drilling in the field, and encountered additional hydrocarbons in the area in July 2012. The gas field, located in South China Sea, is located about 80 km (50 miles) off the coast between Vietnam's Quang Nam and Quang Ngai central provinces.
The US energy giant has since partnered with state-owned PetroVietnam to conduct preparatory work for exploiting gas from the field, which is estimated to hold reserves of 150 billion cubic meters.
However, the company has not made any final investment decision for the project yet as it will have to take into consideration several factors such as regulatory approvals, government guarantees, executed gas sales agreements and economic competitiveness, the spokesperson said.
Vietnam has expressed its intention to reduce planned power capacity produced by imported LNG and coal as part of its commitment to implement its 2050- net zero target announced at COP26.
Beside additional power from offshore wind which will need time to develop, the country will have to rely on its domestic gas fields to ensure energy security. However, work at both Ca Voi Xanh and another major gas project, the Block B, has been delayed for several years.
As MRC informed before, ExxonMobil said earlier this month it is on track to meet its 2025 emissions reduction targets by the end of this year - four years earlier than planned - and has vowed to ramp up investments to further cut emissions.
We remind that ExxonMobil plans to build its first, large-scale plastic waste advanced recycling facility in Baytown, Texas, and is expected to start operations by year-end 2022. By recycling plastic waste back into raw materials that can be used to make plastic and other valuable products, the technology could help address the challenge of plastic waste in the environment. A smaller, temporary facility, is already operational and producing commercial volumes of certified circular polymers that will be marketed by the end of this year to meet growing demand.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in January-September 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) decreased significantly.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world"s oil and about 2% of the world"s energy.
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