VietNam Business

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Power shortage blamed on delayed projects

Power shortage blamed on delayed projects Delays in construction of new power projects are the main reason for Vietnam’s power shortage, a senior official says.

“Hydropower plants account for 40 percent of the total power output, and low water levels play a part in the power shortage, but not the whole part,” Tran Dinh Long, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Electricity Power Association, told Thanh Nien.

“There was critical power shortage, even during the flooding season, and that’s because new power projects are behind schedule.”

The government in April had forecast that the lack of water in reservoirs could mean a loss of nearly 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity at hydropower plants this year.

Long said power losses at existing power plants could be offset if there were new plants.

“The power shortage has forced many thermal power plants to continuously run at full capacity, making them prone to technical problems that cause even more critical shortages,” he said.

Besides, no measure has been taken to control power consumption in the country, and production has been unable to catch up with rising demand.

Long said the government needs to be stricter in dealing with delayed power projects. Vietnam should also diversify its power sources by developing renewable energy and nuclear power projects, he said.

Vietnam plans to build four nuclear power reactors in the central province of Ninh Thuan, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts. One of the four is set to be operational in 2020.

Long said if nuclear power can account for around 15 percent of the total output, the power shortage would be eased considerably.

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Power shortage blamed on delayed projects

Power shortage blamed on delayed projects Delays in construction of new power projects are the main reason for Vietnam’s power shortage, a senior official says.

“Hydropower plants account for 40 percent of the total power output, and low water levels play a part in the power shortage, but not the whole part,” Tran Dinh Long, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Electricity Power Association, told Thanh Nien.

“There was critical power shortage, even during the flooding season, and that’s because new power projects are behind schedule.”

The government in April had forecast that the lack of water in reservoirs could mean a loss of nearly 1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity at hydropower plants this year.

Long said power losses at existing power plants could be offset if there were new plants.

“The power shortage has forced many thermal power plants to continuously run at full capacity, making them prone to technical problems that cause even more critical shortages,” he said.

Besides, no measure has been taken to control power consumption in the country, and production has been unable to catch up with rising demand.

Long said the government needs to be stricter in dealing with delayed power projects. Vietnam should also diversify its power sources by developing renewable energy and nuclear power projects, he said.

Vietnam plans to build four nuclear power reactors in the central province of Ninh Thuan, with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts. One of the four is set to be operational in 2020.

Long said if nuclear power can account for around 15 percent of the total output, the power shortage would be eased considerably.

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Industry group protests US tariff on Vietnam tra fish

Industry group protests US tariff on Vietnam tra fish The Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers said Thursday it opposed the preliminary anti-dumping tariffs which the US imposed on Vietnamese frozen tra fish fillets.

According to the association, the US Department of Commerce’s decision unreasonably based the tariffs on production prices in the Philippines--a country with an exceptionally small tra fish industry. The tariffs amount to more than 100 percent of the sales price.

Production prices in the Philippines are always higher than in Vietnam, which has the largest tra fish sector in the world with an output of more than 1.2 million tons a year, the seafood association said.

The association demanded that the US Department of Commerce consider lowering the tariffs and use Bengladeshi prices as a point of comparison.

Vietnamese tra fish products rank in the top ten favorite commodities in the US. Vietnam exported around 41,000 tons of tra fish worth US$134 million to the US last year. The sales accounted 6.75 percent of its total tra exports around the world.

Previously, the US Department of Commerce applied low anti-dumping tariffs of up to 0.52 percent on Vietnamese tra.

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Renovated Mövenpick hotel reopens in Saigon

The Mövenpick Hotel Saigon has reopened after a five-month hiatus during which it went a US$15 million overhaul.

The hotel’s Board of Directors held a press conference at the hotel on Nguyen Van Troi Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s Phu Nhuan District on Thursday, September 16, to mark the reopening.

Knuth Kiefer, General Manager of Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, Vietnam, told the conference that they had soft-opened the hotel on August 1^st.

He said that the renovation covered all areas of the hotel and resulted in a complete transformation of its appearance.

“It was important for us and our owner companies to ensure that the hotel will not only become a leading hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, - but also unique.”

According to Knuth Kiefer, new space allocations and the creation of new restaurant concepts has resulted in a hotel unique not just in appearance, but also in the products and services it has to offer.

“In the 5 months leading up to the opening of the hotel, we organized over 160 training classes for our employees in order to meet the expectations of our customers and to be in line with the modern new look of the hotel,” Knuth Kiefer said.

Andreas Mattmüller, Chief Operating Officer for all Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts in the Middle East & Asia, said they aim to expand business in Vietnam by building resorts in at least five key spots, including Nha Trang, Da Lat and Hoi An.

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Friday, November 19, 2010

Tra Vinh has new thermo-electric power plant

Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong on Sept. 19 issued an order to
build the Duyen Hai 1 thermo-electric power plant in the Mekong delta
province of Tra Vinh.

At the ground-breaking ceremony, Deputy PM Trong emphasised the significance of the project in socio-economic development.

The plant is part of the power centre which is expected to help boost
regional socio-economic development and attract more investors to Tra
Vinh province and the Mekong delta region as a whole, he said.

The deputy PM assigned the project’s investor, EVN, to ensure the
construction pace and asked local authorities to speed up site clearance
and pay attention to the living conditions of local people, especially
ethnic Khmer people.

He also said the Government
will build the Co Chien bridge in Tra Vinh province at the end of the
year and the construction of the bridge is expected to last for three
years.

Chairman of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN)
Dao Van Hung said that this is one of three plants of the Duyen Hai
Power Centre which has a combined capacity of almost 4,500 MW and a
combined investment of around 5 billion USD.

The
1,245MW plant has an investment capital of 1.57 billion USD, of which 85
percent is sourced from the Import-Export Bank of China.

The first turbine of the plant is expected to be operational in September 2014 and the second two months later.

The plant will consume around 3.5 million tonnes of anthracite to produce around 7.2 billion kWh per year./.

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ANZ completes due diligence on South Korea KEB

anz

SEOUL - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has completed due diligence to decide whether to bid for a majority stake in Korea Exchange Bank, South Korean media reported on Sunday.

ANZ finished the three-week inspection for the deal, worth about US$4 billion at current prices, on Friday and will make a decision by October at the earliest, online news provider EDaily quoted financial industry sources as saying.

US private equity firm Lone Star, which owns 51 percent of KEB, asked ANZ to conduct the due diligence on the South Korean bank, EDaily said.

"After the inspection, ANZ may offer a higher price than its previous offer of some 3 trillion won," EDaily quoted an unnamed official close to the sale as saying.

The official added Lone Star had given up selling the stake at about $6 billion long time ago, according to EDaily.

Officials from ANZ, KEB and Lone Star were not available for comments on the report.

Last month, three sources said ANZ was expected to decide by mid-October whether to bid for a majority stake in KEB.

If successful, the KEB deal will represent ANZ's biggest ever acquisition as Australia's No. 4 bank steps up its effort to become an Asia-focused regional bank, along the lines of HSBC Holdings and Standard Chartered.

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BP to conduct test to show if Gulf well dead

Photo: AFP

HOUSTON - BP Plc has conducted a pressure test on its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well to make sure that cement pumped into the bottom killed it for good, the company said.

The test is the last step toward declaring the well dead and closing the seabed chapter of the worst oil spill in US history. The disaster began nearly five months ago with a blowout and explosion that killed 11 men and sank a drilling rig. No announcement declaring the well dead is expected until Sunday.

BP faces years of litigation, multiple investigations and the daunting job of repairing its tattered image in the United States, where the London-based oil giant conducts 40 percent of its business. That includes the Gulf, where BP is the largest producer.

The blown-out Macondo well spewed more than 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf before BP sealed it shut with a cap on the wellhead on July 15. The spill damaged coastlines along the US Gulf Coast, killing wildlife and hurting the livelihood of fishermen and others.

BP pumped cement into the well from the top on Aug. 5. Repeating that procedure at the bottom through a relief well has long been considered the final assurance the well is dead.

The relief well intercepted the Macondo well late on Thursday near its bottom about 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) beneath the seabed. On Friday, BP pumped in cement for seven hours and waited for it to finish curing on Saturday before conducting the final test.

Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said last week that if the test showed the reservoir was completely sealed off from the well and no oil could flow upward, he would declare the Macondo well dead.

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