Vietnam's pipeline project

Vietnam's pipeline project

HANOI (DPA): Vietnamese officials will sign agreements next Wednesday with a consortium of foreign investors led by British Petroleum for a pipeline project that forms part of a US$1.5 billion exploitation scheme, a government minister said Friday.

All documents related to the Nam Con Son project, a business cooperation contract (BCC) between the consortium, the government and state-run PetroVietnam, will be signed December 6, Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Xuan Gia told reporters in Hanoi.

"All documents and agreements on the project will be finalized and the licenses granted on that occasion," Gia said.

The documents are to be signed in the presence of visiting British Minister of State John Battle, Gia said.

The $580-million Nam Con Son BCC, initialed last October, involves Norway's Statoil, Amoco of the United States, and India's ONGC-Videsh Ltd.

It would deliver some 2.7 billion cubic metres of gas annually via a 390-kilometer offshore pipeline to mainland power stations and generate 13 billion kilowatt hours.