Vietnam's gas demand, which is mainly met by imports, will annually grow 10-15 percent in the coming years, local newspaper Saigon Liberation reported Tuesday.

If Vietnam's first oil refinery named Dung Quat in central Quang Ngai province, which is to annually refine 6.5 million tons of crude oil and turn out 250,000 tons of gas, becomes operational in late 2008 or early 2009 as scheduled, the country will still have to import 700,000-800,000 tons of gas each year starting in 2009.

Now, Vietnam consumes some 900,000 tons of gas a year, of which 320,000 tons are supplied by the country's sole gas plant named Dinh Co in southern Ba Ria Vung Tau province, and the rest by imports. It consumed approximately 300,000 tons of gas in 1999.

Vietnam used to import gas mainly from Thailand. When the Thai government limited gas export in early 2006, Vietnam turned to import gas from such markets as Singapore, China and Malaysia, said the report.

Vietnam currently houses 60 gas trading companies, less than 10 percent of which have gas depots.

Source: Xinhua