Pipeline from Vietnam’s offshore gas fields reaches land

by The Associated Press

A 225-mile underwater pipeline from offshore Vietnamese gas fields has reached land and will be operational in early November, an oil industry executive said June 17.

The project, claimed to be the world’s longest gas pipeline, is capable of transporting 250 billion cubic feet of gas per year.

Builders of the pipeline reached the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau June 14, and the pipeline will be connected to an 18-mile pipeline on land, an executive of British Petroleum in Hanoi said.

The pipeline will tap reserves of up to 2 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Nam Con Son basin gas field developed by BP off Vietnam’s southern coast and bring it onshore to fuel power stations and other projects in the province.

They include the 3,600-megawatt Phu My Power Complex, scheduled to be completed in 2005. BP, state-owned PetroVietnam, and ONDC of India are investing $1.3 billion in the project, which includes a gas processing plant.