Quang Nam (VNA) – Deputyhead of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission and Chairman of theVietnam Oil and Gas Group’s Member Council Tran Sy Thanh held a working sessionwith authorities of the central province of Quang Nam on March 1 to discuss thelaunch of Blue Whale gas field project – the largest of its kind in Vietnam.

The project, lying in Chu LaiOpen Economic Zone in Tam Quang commune, Nui Thanh district, is expected to belaunched this year with the first flow of gas brought ashore by late 2023.

A central processing platformwill be built off block 118, about 90 km from Quang Nam. Gas will be filteredat its plant in Tam Quang commune, Nui Thanh district, and will be supplied tofour power plants with a total capacity of 3,000MW under the approved masterplan on gas and electricity in the central region.

The gas field is expected to earnnearly 60 billion USD, add 1 billion USD to the local state budget and generatejobs for 3,000-4,000 skilled workers.

Huynh Khanh Toan, head of themanagement board of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, said the province has zonedoff nearly 3,000 ha for concentrated industrial zones. Once investors are readyto embark on projects, the locality will hand over a clean site to them.

Thanh lauded the provincialauthorities’ drastic action on site clearance to ensure the project will belaunched as soon as possible.

He asked units concerned toensure the project’s progress to contribute to socio-economic development inthe southern central region

Secretary of the provincial PartyCommittee Phan Viet Cuong said it will be the largest scale project to belaunched in Quang Nam. He suggested that both sides should devise specificmeasures regarding human resources and urban development.

Earlier, the delegation paid afact-finding trip for the project and presented 15 billion VND  (650,000 USD) to social welfare work in theprovince.–VNA