{"id":60140665,"date":"2026-07-09T12:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60140665"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:46:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T11:46:05","slug":"vietnams-gas-projects-stall-amid-investor-claims-of-unbankability-and-a-renewables-pivot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/energy\/vietnams-gas-projects-stall-amid-investor-claims-of-unbankability-and-a-renewables-pivot\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnam\u2019s gas projects stall amid investor claims of unbankability and a renewables pivot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In September 2025, Vietnam\u2019s then prime minister, Pham Minh Chinh, joined the country\u2019s wealthiest person, Pham Nhat Vuong, to break ground<\/a> on what was to be the country\u2019s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of the ceremony, Vietnam only had one operational<\/a> LNG power project. But the slated USD 6.7 billion, 4.8 gigawatt (GW) plant in the northern industrial hub of Hai Phong was expected to bring Vietnam closer to its ambitious goal of 22.5 GW of LNG capacity by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just six months later, its developer VinGroup proposed scrapping the project, according<\/a> to Reuters. It reportedly cited high fuel prices caused by the Southwest Asia conflict, and the foreign exchange pressure of importing the roughly 5 million metric tonnes of LNG it would require annually \u2013 an estimated USD 3.5-3.8 billion in foreign currency expenditure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its place, VinGroup proposed a hybrid renewable energy project paired with a battery energy storage system, which stores and discharges power during peak demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reversal marked the starkest signal yet of Vietnam\u2019s struggle with LNG. Developers have long put the situation down to unbankable power purchase agreements, the state electricity buyer\u2019s weak finances, global gas turbine shortages, and price volatility driven by the Southwest Asia conflict. With new leadership less enthusiastic about LNG, Vietnam appears to be pivoting toward renewables and storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LNG sweet spot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Vietnam revised<\/a> its national energy plan in 2025, nearly a year before the global energy landscape would be shaken by the conflict in Southwest Asia. Its LNG goal was ambitious even then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan staked<\/a> between 9.5-12.3% of the country\u2019s targeted 2030 electricity capacity on LNG with projects totalling 22.5 GW, and a strategic bet that the fuel could bridge the country\u2019s transition from coal to renewables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLNG occupies a rare sweet spot in Vietnam’s energy calculus,\u201d said Le Hong Hiep, a senior fellow and coordinator of the Vietnam Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. \u201cIt is cleaner than coal, scalable enough to anchor a national grid, and flexible enough to backstop the intermittency of renewables.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But four years from that deadline, Vietnam still only has one complex of two<\/a> operational LNG power plants with a combined capacity of 1.62 GW, with a second<\/a> 1.2 GW project in progress. The rest of the pipeline is either stalled, delayed or scrapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n