EVN proposed to give gas for power generation, PVN said it was difficult

On May 20, PVN announced the mobilization of natural gas for electricity production. This information was released after Vietnam Electricity (EVN) proposed that PVN consider temporarily stopping the entire Ca Mau Fertilizer Plant and Phu My Fertilizer Plant, giving gas for electricity production from now until the end of May, then prioritizing gas until the end of June.

According to EVN, the amount of gas supplied for electricity production is only about 13.5-14 million m3/day on average, while the maximum operating demand of gas turbine plants in the Southeast region is over 21 million m3/day.

The amount of gas supplied by the Southwest region for electricity production only reaches an average of about 4 million m3/day, while the maximum operating demand of Ca Mau gas turbine plants is about 6 million m3/day.

PVN said it is looking for additional gas sources. Photo: PVN

However, PVN said: Due to the very low demand for natural gas mobilization for electricity production in the first quarter of 2023, by the end of April 2023, the amount of gas mobilized for power plants only reached 96% compared to the plan assigned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In addition to maximizing the amount of natural gas exploited domestically, PVN has agreed with Petronas to purchase all the gas exploited from the PM3-CAA mine cluster with Malaysia to increase the amount of gas supplied for domestic electricity production.

It is expected that in 2023, PVN will supply about 5.87 billion m3 of natural gas for electricity production (including 4.55 billion m3 in the Southeast region and 1.32 billion m3 in the Southwest region), exceeding 104.8% of the plan of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

"It is worth mentioning that, up to now, the highest mobilized capacity of gas-fired power plants only accounts for about 12% of the total mobilized capacity of power sources. Therefore, to ensure the completion of the power supply plan approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it is necessary to mobilize the participation of many other power sources in addition to gas-fired power (coal-fired power, hydropower, renewable energy, etc.)", PVN commented.

PVN also expressed its opinion on the proposal to stop the entire Ca Mau Fertilizer Plant and Phu My Fertilizer Plant to give gas for electricity production from now until the end of May, then give priority to giving gas until the end of June.

This group believes that: The owners of Phu My and Ca Mau Fertilizer plants are joint stock companies, so any activities that affect production and business efficiency, or any long-term gas supply suspension/reduction as planned, must be approved by the shareholders' meetings of these companies before implementation.

The unplanned suspension/reduction of gas supply to Phu My and Ca Mau Fertilizer Plants will greatly affect production and business activities, causing many consequences for related parties and will depend on the approval, goodwill, and cooperation of shareholders of the fertilizer plants.

"In addition, stopping/reducing natural gas from fertilizer plants does not help much (nearly 1%) in ensuring the operation of the national power system," PVN said.

The hot weather causes concerns about power shortages, the Ministry of Industry and Trade calls for saving . The power supply situation is tense, with local power outages occurring in many provinces and cities. The Ministry of Industry and Trade must propose that the Prime Minister issue a directive to increase power saving in the 2023-2025 period.

Source