AFRY takes advisory role on Vietnam LNG project

AFRY has been appointed international technical adviser for the proposed 1.5GW Quynh Lap liquefied natural gas power project in Vietnam’s Nghe An Province, with an engineering assignment centred on the fuel receiving terminal, its associated marine infrastructure and project-wide environmental assessment. The appointment advances technical preparation but does not represent a power-station construction award or confirmation that generating units have entered service.

The project is located in Tan Mai Ward and forms part of Vietnam’s Power Development Plan VIII, which sets out the country’s electricity development direction through 2030 with an outlook to 2050. It is conceived as an integrated LNG-to-power installation in which imported gas would be received onshore and supplied to a planned generating station with a nominal capacity of 1.5GW. That capacity remains prospective rather than installed operational output.

AFRY’s specified role includes front-end engineering design (FEED) for the onshore LNG receiving terminal and associated marine infrastructure. It will also provide environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) services for the wider power-plant development, jetty design and onshore and offshore surveys. FEED of the receiving terminal must not be represented as a completed detailed design for the full 1.5GW generating plant, and the appointment does not include a stated EPC construction award.

Quynh Lap LNG Power JSC has appointed the adviser to coordinate technical work across marine structures, LNG handling and environmental matters. Site conditions beyond the eventual power-station boundary influence the terminal design: vessel access, berth exposure, seabed and shoreline ground conditions, LNG transfer routes and the gas delivery connection all affect equipment layouts and civil engineering choices. The engineering and survey work is intended to establish these constraints, not evidence that they have already been resolved.

FEED establishes a more developed technical basis for detailed design, procurement decisions and risk assessments, but it is not the same as completing those subsequent stages. Equipment duties, site interfaces, preliminary layouts and assumptions may be defined and tested during this phase. AFRY has not announced the final equipment suppliers, generating-unit configuration or contract price, leaving those details subject to later project decisions and disclosed specifications.

The LNG terminal must receive fuel from marine transport, store or otherwise manage it under controlled conditions, and prepare gas for delivery to the generating equipment. Depending on the approved design, major technical interfaces include ship unloading, cryogenic systems, storage and regasification, gas quality and pressure regulation, emergency shutdown systems and the pipeline connection to the power station. The project announcement confirms the receiving-terminal scope, but it does not provide enough detail to specify each item of equipment.

Jetty and marine facilities introduce a separate group of engineering constraints. The berth must account for vessel manoeuvring, mooring loads, operating weather limits and the safe transfer of LNG between ship and shore. Onshore and offshore surveys are needed to characterise ground and seabed conditions, informing foundations, marine structures, buried services and routes for associated works. Inadequate site data at this stage can affect both capital cost and the practicality of future construction methods.

Electricity generation imposes its own set of design interfaces. Fuel supply availability must align with turbine operating requirements, while switchgear, transformers, protection systems and grid connection arrangements must be engineered to accommodate the generating station’s planned export capacity. A 1.5GW headline capacity does not establish the number, model or final configuration of generating units; the developer has not disclosed those particulars in AFRY’s appointment announcement.

Environmental and social assessments are intended to identify project impacts and define measures that can be considered alongside technical design. An LNG port and generating station may require assessment of marine activity, coastal land use, construction traffic, operational noise, emissions and local community interfaces. The precise studies, mitigation requirements and permitting decisions will depend on the project’s statutory approval process; commissioning the assessment is not equivalent to receiving final environmental consent.

Coordinating terminal design, surveys and environmental assessment allows interfaces to be examined while the developer can still adjust the project layout. Moving a proposed jetty, for example, may alter the transfer-line route, marine foundation requirements and safety clearances onshore. Changes to the receiving terminal can in turn affect gas pressure control, plant access and emergency shutdown arrangements. Those consequences can be evaluated before detailed procurement fixes major equipment quantities and construction methods.

Vietnam’s inclusion of Quynh Lap in the national power plan establishes policy context, but it does not eliminate development risks. Large LNG-to-power projects require coordinated fuel supply, power offtake or revenue arrangements, site permissions, construction finance, equipment availability and transmission access. The appointment supplies technical and assessment work to inform those decisions; it does not demonstrate that all commercial and regulatory prerequisites have been satisfied.

The next technical milestones concern completing the terminal FEED, relevant onshore and offshore investigations and the project-wide environmental and social assessment. Quynh Lap LNG Power JSC would still need to resolve approvals, commercial arrangements and the later construction and grid-connection programme before the proposed 1.5GW station could supply electricity. AFRY’s newly confirmed appointment should be understood as engineering preparation, not delivery or operation of generating capacity.