The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just issued Document No. 1225/BCT-DKT dated 11/3/2022 on "ensure supply of coal for electricity production".

In this document, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has requested TKV and the dong Bac Corporation to immediately take measures to ensure coal production capacity, implement all solutions to ensure the supply of coal, enough coal for thermal power plants in accordance with the signed Coal Purchase/Supply Contract (especially BOT thermal power plants using domestic coal to avoid the situation that the Vietnamese side has to pay compensation due to the shutdown of the plants due to lack of fuel).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade emphasized that in any case, there should not be a shortage of coal for power production as committed in the signed Coal Purchase/Supply Contract. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also requested EVN to direct the National Electrical Network Distribution Center to make a distribution solution suitable to the actual situation as well as to notify the monthly updated mobilization plan to the thermal power plants to promptly arrange coal sources for power production.

Earlier, the Ministry of Industry and Trade received a number of documents submitted by some Coal Thermal Power Plants to report on TKV and  Dong Bac Corporation does not supply enough coal quantity in the first 2 months of 2022 according to the signed Coal Purchase/Supply Contract.

The data reported to the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows that in February, the total amount of coal actually supplied by TKV Group and the Dong Bac Corporation for coal-fired power plants of EVN equivalent to only 69.24% of the signed contract volume and much lower than the operating needs of these plants. In particular, Vinh Tan 1 BOT coal-fired power plant is also not supplied with enough coal according to the coal supply contract signed at the end of 2013 and this may lead to the risk of the Vietnamese side having to compensate due to the shutdown for lack of fuel.

In a document submitted by TKV, one of the reasons for not providing enough coal for electricity production in the recent time is due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, leading to a shortage of human resources to work in coal mines.

In addition to the complicated situation of the COVID-19 epidemic, which continues to be complicated, especially the number of infections has increased sharply since the Lunar New Year, another remarkable problem that has impacted on the international energy market is the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

In the days since the end of February 2022 to present, the prices of fuels such as oil, gas, gasoline and coal in many international markets have continuously increased. Transporting fuel by all modes of transport is difficult due to sanctions, including seagoing coal transport. This not only limits the volume of coal circulating in the market, but also makes the international coal price increase to an unprecedented record compared to that before.

                                                                                                                                                      Source: VietnamNet.vn