Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung (R) receives ExxonMobil Vice President for Gas and Power Marketing Paul Greenwood, Ha Noi, October 10, 2017 - Photo: VGP/Xuan Tuyen

At the reception, the Deputy PM affirmed that Viet Nam highly appraised Exxon Mobil’s participation in the Blue Whale gas field, adding that the project plays a crucial role in deepening the cooperative relations between Viet Nam and the U.S. 

The project has made contribution to ensuring the national power security and facilitating the operation of gas power plants in the central region, he said. 

The Deputy PM highly appraised the crucial progress in the implementation of the gas power plants over the recent years, asserting the Government’s commitments to welcoming the first gas pumped out from the Blue Whale by 2023. 

Mr.  Paul Greenwood confirmed that the operation and development of the Blue Whale plays a crucial role in promoting cooperation with Viet Nam in exploiting and processing oil and gas products, adding that in the future, Exxon Mobil and the National Oil and Gas Group will soon launch other oil and gas exploitation in Viet Nam

He gave some proposals on removing obstacles for the firm and the Vietnamese side to soon reach the final agreement.

The Ca Voi Xanh (Blue Whale) field is about 100 km east of the central coast. The PM has recently approved the construction of four gas-fired power plants in the central provinces of Quang Nam and Quang Ngai with total capacity of 3,000MW using gas from the field. 

The PM has also agreed to use part of the gas exploited from the field to develop the oil refinery industry.