AES, PetroVietnam Gas to sign $2.8 bln LNG deal - Pompeo

McDermott International

28/10/2020 03:59

HANOI, Oct 28 (Reuters) - AES Corp.  AES.N  will sign a deal
with PetroVietnam Gas  GAS.HM  to develop a $2.8 billion
liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal and a power plant in
Vietnam, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.
    "Vietnam has given the green light to AES Corp.  AES.N , a
company based in Virginia, to go forward with the project,"
Pompeo said at a virtual Indo-Pacific Business Forum. 
    The deal will open the door for the import of billions of
dollars worth of U.S. LNG to Vietnam each year, Pompeo said,
describing it as a "real win-win situation".
    The forum, also attended by his Vietnamese counterpart Pham
Binh Minh, comes as the United States ramps up its rhetoric
against the regional influence of Chinese state firms. 
    "American companies adhere to the rule of law and
transparency and have very high standards of quality for their
products," Pompeo said. "I say that because that's quite a
contrast with the Chinese state-backed companies." 
    Vietnam is building numerous LNG-to-power plants, with the
first to be operational by 2023, an ambitious move that could
see LNG become a major energy source for its fast-growing
economy.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2G50YZ
    Much of that will be imported from the United States, which
wants to narrow its trade deficit with Vietnam, which widened to
$44.3 billion in the first nine months of this year from $33.96
billion in the same period of 2019. 
    Also at Wednesday's forum, Delta Offshore Energy formalised
an earlier announced plan for a $3 billion agreement with
Bechtel Corp., General Electric  GE.N  and McDermott  MCDIF.PK 
for the development of a 3.2-gigawatt LNG power plant in Bac
Lieu province, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said. 
 

 (Reporting by Khanh Vu and James Pearson; Editing by Martin
Petty)
 ((khanh.vu@thomsonreuters.com; +84 24 38259623;))