Surrounded by the South China Sea, and endowed with a number of rich fishing spots off and along the coastline stretching 3,260 km long, Vietnam boasts of its surface fishing catch that is ranking No.17 in the world. The long coastline gives Vietnam the blessing of marine products, and also it is exposed to strong wind prevailing most of time and therefore suited for wind power generation. Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) plans construction of the large-sized wind-power plant with 30MW.

In 2007, the annual supply of primary energy in Vietnam scored 53.97 million ton of COE (crude oil equivalent), out of which 25.54 million ton COE, 45.5 % of the total, was biomass energy. Vietnam’s oil refinery facility has not enough capacity, and therefore most of crude oil exploited in the country has to go abroad once, and then Vietnam imports refined oil products such as gasoline. Of the biomass energy, 59.6 % is consumed in household sector, and rice straw and firewood are used for cooking.

Vietnam government has been keenly promoting production and use of bioethanol that can replace fossil oil and oil products. The government plans to establish five factories for bioethanol production in the country, which can supply 365,000 ton of bioethanol a year. Sugarcane and cassava will be used as raw materials. In this consequence, the country will be able to supply 7.3 million ton of E5 gasoline (with 5% of bioethanol content) to domestic market. In August 2010, the first product was delivered from the bioethanol production factory, the first one in Vietnam, constructed by Dong Hanh Co. in Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam.

Meantime, PetroVietnum one of national oil/gas business group, started sales of E5 gasoline at their twenty gas stations located in five major cities of Vietnam, from August 2010. The price was presently set to 15,450 Dohng (approximately 70 yen) per liter that is slightly lower than that of A92 gasoline (15,990 Dohng; 72 yen per liter) that has an octane value of 92.

Table  Supply of Primary Energy in Vietnam (2007; million ton COE)

	Coal	Crude Oil	Natural Gas	Hydro	Biomass	Total
Domestic Production	24.34	16.54	5.94	2.57	24.54	73.93
Import	0.44	14.21	0	0	0	14.65
Export	-17.85	-16.27	-0.49	0	0	-34.61
Primary Supply	6.93	14.48	5.45	2.57	24.54	53.97

 

Table  Consumption of Primary Energy in Different Sectors of Vietnam
(2007; million ton COE)

Industries	Transport	Household	Business	Forestry & Fishery	Total
10.35	7.84	27.45	1.54	0.57	47.75

 

Fig.  Supply of Primary Energy in Vietnam (2007; million ton COE)

 

Fig.  Consumption of Primary Energy in Different Sectors of Vietnam
(2007; million ton COE)

 

Fig.  Coastline of Vietnam (3,260 km Long)

 

Source:
1) Website of IEA (International Energy Agency); http://www.iea.org/
2) Vietnam Economic News, No 4/2010 (P13),
3) The Daily NNA (Vietnam & Indo-China Version; 2010.8.2)
et al