From oil and gas to renewable energy, the Vietnam National Industry - Energy Group (Petrovietnam) is showing a strategic shift when participating in the offshore wind power sector. This is not only a direction in line with the trend of global emission reduction, but also demonstrates the Group's determination to master technology, ensure energy security and sovereignty over islands.
Offshore wind power - an inevitable trend
In the context of the world accelerating energy transition, offshore wind power (AD us) has emerged as one of the important clean energy sources, contributing to the realization of the goal of net zero emissions.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), by 2050, the GDP could provide up to 20% of global electricity demand if its potential is exploited to the fullest. Europe is currently leading with more than 35 GW of GDP in operation, followed by China with remarkable growth rates, reaching more than 30 GW in just one decade. The US also sets a development target of 30 GW by 2030.
Not only having the meaning of energy, GHG is also considered a new "technology pillar", requiring the integration of many industries: mechanical engineering, materials, automation, shipping, and offshore construction. Therefore, any country that can master the import-export value chain must not only ensure energy security, but also enhance its industrial position, participating deeply in the global supply chain.
In the world, import-export is becoming a spearhead industry. Major oil and gas corporations such as Equinor, Shell, BP, Totalenergies... have invested in dozens of low-volume low-volume projects, gradually shifting from oil and gas exploitation to renewable energy. In Southeast Asia, Petronas (Malaysia) has established Gentari and contributed capital to the Hai Long import-export project (Taiwan - China).
With a coastline of more than 3,200 km and technical potential for import-export of nearly 600 GW, Vietnam is considered a country with a great advantage for import-export development. This is the "green gold mine" at sea, opening a new direction for the energy economy, contributing significantly to the roadmap to realize the Government's Net Zero 2050 commitment.
According to the VIII Electrical Plan, the technical potential of our country (about 600,000 MW) to produce new electricity and energy. The total capacity of the PPA to serve the domestic electricity demand is about 6,000-17,032 MW, expected to operate in the period of 2030-2035. Orientation to 2050 reached 113,503-139.097 MW. It is estimated that the power power source to produce new energy is about 15,000 MW in 2035 and about 240,000 MW in 2050.
Setting ambitious goals for the development of the import-export industry brings many important benefits to Vietnam. Developing the GHG contributes to ensuring national energy security, reducing imports of fossil fuels, and at the same time creating many new jobs, promoting the development of the marine economy as well as developing energy industry infrastructure, contributing significantly to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the energy industry in Vietnam.
Petrovietnam - a strategic change
Petrovietnam is currently the leading state-owned economic group, the largest enterprise in Vietnam, a pioneer in shifting the energy structure, playing a key role and position in the economy, contributing to ensuring energy security, economic security, food security as well as participating, contributing to ensuring national security and sovereignty at sea. Over the past 50 years, the Group has mastered many technologies for exploiting and operating offshore oil and gas projects at a depth of hundreds of meters, in harsh weather conditions. That is valuable experience, creating a technical, management and human resource foundation for the deployment of wind power at sea.
In the context of the strong global energy transition trend, reducing emissions and developing a green economy becomes an urgent goal, the energy sector in general and Petrovietnam in particular are facing the need for innovation to adapt.
To facilitate sustainable development, the Politburo issued Conclusion 76-KL/TW dated April 24, 2024, affirming the orientation and policy to allow Petrovietnam to participate in the new energy and renewable energy value chain. This is a strategic direction to open up new development space for the national key energy group, helping Petrovietnam proactively build a strategy and roadmap for the development of the import-export industry, contributing to making Vietnam soon a technology owner, with a complete supply chain to compete with countries around the world, grasp the "golden" opportunities, and strive for strong development in the clean energy sector.
In that context, Petrovietnam has clearly identified: Import-export is not only a pure investment and business field, but also a "technical breakthrough" for the whole group. In recent years, with the mission of pioneering in the energy sector, Petrovietnam and some member units have focused on assessing and researching the issue of energy shift to adjust, catch up with trends, and make the most of strengths. In particular, orienting the shift towards green, clean energy through increasing gas proportion, H2 production and developing GDP.
associated with the development of the Vietnamese oil and gas industry, Petrovietnam has formed a modern technical and facilities system with a team of more than 55,000 high-quality workers. This is an important resource that helps Petrovietnam not only master the role of investor and general contractor EPCI, but also become a contractor providing high-quality technical services for offshore projects.
Petrovietnam has many outstanding advantages to participate in energy transition, especially offshore wind power. We can review four main strengths:
Data and survey capacity: Petrovietnam is the only enterprise in Vietnam that holds and manages a national seabed geological database, collected during the oil and gas search and exploration process. Thanks to that, the Group has the full capacity to provide geological survey services, technical surveys, and pre-feasibility studies for import-export projects. Based on the data, experience and accumulated knowledge of the marine environment, the Vietnam Petroleum Institute (VPI) has proactively implemented many international studies and cooperation to assess geology, environment, and oceanography, while applying artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze high-resolution seismic documents. The results are integrated into a foundation model for foundation design, selecting the location of turbine and underground cable optimal for import-export projects.
Design and construction: Petrovietnam owns a large, professional team of design engineers, well-trained in the fields of structure, electricity, mechanics, and copyrighted specialized software systems. Thanks to that, the Group can carry out all stages of the sea project design - from planning, basic design, detailed design to construction design. This capacity can be completely transferred and meet the requirements of import-export projects.
Operation and maintenance (O&M): With more than 40 years of experience in operating and maintaining oil and gas and power projects offshore, Petrovietnam has accumulated outstanding strengths in facilities, equipment, and human resources. The oil and gas service port system, supporting fleet, onshore repair facilities and highly skilled human resources help Petrovietnam be ready to undertake O&M for import-export projects. In addition, the Group owns a large-scale port and processing site system such as Vietsovpetro, PTSC M&C, PV Shipyard, Dung Quat, Nghi Son, Dinh Vu... along with a fleet of nearly 100 service ships managed and operated by PTSC, Vietsovpetro, PVTrans by experienced Vietnamese crew members.
Financial capacity and international cooperation: Petrovietnam has strong financial potential, is the largest enterprise in Vietnam and ranks 11th in Southeast Asia with: Total assets of over 1.08 million billion VND; equity of over 556 trillion VND. Since its establishment, Petrovietnam's total revenue has reached 605 billion USD (9-10% of GDP).
In addition, Petrovietnam has experience in managing large-scale projects and the advantage of close linkage in the oil and gas value chain. At the same time, the Group has established extensive cooperative relationships with many international energy corporations, opening up opportunities to absorb new knowledge and technology in the field of energy transition.
In recent years, member units such as Vietsovpetro and PTSC have signed many memorandums of understanding, bilateral cooperation, and survey - service contracts with the world's leading import-export investors. Petrovietnam has signed a memorandum of understanding with Equinor (Na Uy), CIP (denmark) to research and develop domestic energy and clean energy sources in Vietnam...
Most recently, on August 22, Petrovietnam and CI GMF II COÖPERATIEF U.A. (ad managed by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Group - CIP) presented a general development agreement on GDP. This is an important step to approach turbine technology, the foundation and large-scale project management.
Petrovietnam's capacity in the field of import-export has been proven in recent years, when PTSC - a member unit of the Group, has proactively participated in providing wind power and import-export services to many domestic and foreign contractors and has achieved many successes.
PTSC has proven its capacity with more than 30 years of experience in providing technical services for domestic and foreign oil and gas projects, implementing more than 100 oil and gas mechanical projects, many international projects requiring strict technical and progress. In just the past 3 years, PTSC has won bids for over 10 international import-export projects, with a total capacity of 5.2 GW, a total contract value of more than 1.2 billion USD, covering most stages from survey, design, procurement, manufacturing, transportation, installation, operation and maintenance. 100% of these projects serve export, creating direct jobs for more than 4,000 workers. In particular, PTSC is cooperating with Sembcorp (Singapore) to develop a GDP farm project with a capacity of about 2.3 GW, exporting electricity to Singapore via underground cables across the sea.
Along with PTSC, Vietsovpetro is also considered a unit with great potential to participate in import-export development thanks to its financial resources, high-quality human resources, knowledge of offshore technology, along with existing infrastructure systems, seaports and logistics services.
Petrovietnam is gradually forming a domestic supply chain for the offshore renewable energy industry, mobilizing the participation of many member units such as PTSC, Vietsovpetro, VPI, PVE, PVC-MS, PV Shipyard, ... Key units have been assigned the task of linking to develop a value chain of renewable energy, taking advantage of the strengths of design, manufacturing, construction and operation of marine works to participate in domestic and foreign projects. This is a great advantage compared to many domestic investors who have to rely almost entirely on foreign technology and services. This both reduces costs and opens up opportunities to bring Vietnam into the ASEAN-Pacific GHG supply chain.
For Petrovietnam, mastering import-export technology also means expanding the corporate identity: from a traditional oil and gas group, transforming into an integrated, modern, and sustainable industrial - energy group. This is a strategic step forward in the energy transition journey, contributing to the implementation of the national commitment on emission reduction, while affirming Petrovietnam's prestige and capacity in the international arena.
In the long-term vision, Petrovietnam aims not only to stop at investing in import-export projects, but also to gradually conquer important stages of the value chain, from design - manufacturing - installation to operation - maintenance. At that time, Petrovietnam will not only be an investor, but also become a service and technology provider, competitive in the region.
Petrovietnam's desire to master import-export technology is not only a business strategy, but also a mission associated with energy security and sustainable development of the country.
GHG is the "new technology door", opening the green energy era for Vietnam. And Petrovietnam - with courage, intelligence and pioneering aspiration - is holding the key to step through that door.
