E1, an importer and distributor of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) under South Korea’s LS Group, announced on February 21 that it has signed a joint contract with Venus Gas, the largest LPG importer in northern Vietnam, to build an LPG terminal at the Bac Tien Phong industrial complex in the northern province of Quang Ninh, the Vietnam News Agency has reported.

The facility will have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes of propane and 30,000 tonnes of butane. Construction is expected to kick off in the first half of this year, with a warehouse to be put into commercial operations in 2025. E1 plans to supply more than 1 million tonnes of LPG annually to the Vietnamese market.

It bought a 50 per cent stake in the Yen Hung Petrochemical Joint Venture in September 2022, to prepare for the construction of the Bac Tien Phong LPG gas storage facility.

E1 has also announced a decision to grant a new debt guarantee of about KRW256.7 billion ($192.3 million) to the Yen Hung Petrochemical Joint Stock Company. This equates to 16.99 per cent of equity, and will facilitate the raising of capital by allowing the parent company to assist when the subsidiary encounters difficulties in repaying debts.

The Vietnamese Government recently announced plans to expand the crude oil and petroleum product storage capacity nationwide to stabilize commercial oil infrastructure. This is expected to increase the demand for LPG imports.

An executive from E1 said Southeast Asia has huge demand for LPG but lacks large-scale storage terminals. Therefore, E1 will apply its expertise and know-how accumulated during its four decades of experience to carry out the project.