Production at Chevron's $4 billion natural gas project in Vietnam will not be starting in three years as planned, apparently due to prolonged negotiations with state oil and gas monopoly PetroVietnam over pricing issues.
The US oil major had initially planned to start production in 2012, but a spokeswoman for the company's Vietnamese operations told Reuters that first production has now been pushed back to 2014.
Chevron has a 43% stake in the new facilities off the south-western coast of Vietnam, which will see it invest close to $2 billion of the $4 billion needed to get production and delivery infrastructure off to a start.
Other investors in the project are reported to be Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production.
A source close to the project told the Vietnam Investment Review that reference prices provided by the Asian Development Bank of $5.8 to $8.2 per million British thermal units “could help the two companies [Chevron and PetroVietnam] reach an agreement soon.”
The US oil major had initially planned to start production in 2012, but a spokeswoman for the company's Vietnamese operations told Reuters that first production has now been pushed back to 2014.
Chevron has a 43% stake in the new facilities off the south-western coast of Vietnam, which will see it invest close to $2 billion of the $4 billion needed to get production and delivery infrastructure off to a start.
Other investors in the project are reported to be Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration and Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production.
A source close to the project told the Vietnam Investment Review that reference prices provided by the Asian Development Bank of $5.8 to $8.2 per million British thermal units “could help the two companies [Chevron and PetroVietnam] reach an agreement soon.”