Da Nang gas pipeline - Vietnam

The South China Sea is the location for Vietnam’s natural gas fields: Cuu Long, Nam Con Son, Malay-Tho Chu, Song Hong and Phu Khanh. Collectively these fields produce about 10bn m³ of natural pas per annum, all of which is consumed by its domestic population and industry.

Although it lags behind Coal and Oil as a source of energy, the importance of gas in the Vietnamese energy market is set to grow considerably over the next 20 years. In the absence of any major new gas field discoveries in recent years, a major programme of LNG import terminals is planned for the coming decade.

With a population of 1.1 million, Da Nang is Vietnam’s 5th largest city and a similar size to Birmingham in the UK. Da Nang loosely translates as ‘opening of a large river’, the river in question being the Han.

Vietnam is a regional leader in the manufacture of HDPE water distribution pipes, creating pipes up to 3m in dimension. However, there are no domestic manufacturers of HDPE gas pipes and on major projects like the ongoing gasification of Da Nang, the pipe and fittings have to be imported.

Over recent years, Fusion Malaysia has invested a considerable amount of time and marketing resources in establishing a significant presence for its brand in Vietnam. It is helped in this effort by the fact that Fusion Malaysia’s Managing Director, Seow KokHooi, has substantial experience of running manufacturing operations in Vietnam.

For one recent project in Da Nang, Fusion Malaysia was recognised as a leading global supplier of PE network solutions and was asked by the lead contractor, 3NE Energy Company Ltd, to supply all the pipes, fittings and electrofusion boxes for a 600m underground pipeline. The pipes specified were DN100 SDR17.

The project started in the final quarter of 2019 and continued into the first quarter of 2020.

Seow KokHooi believes Fusion Malaysia was chosen to supply the pipe and fittings because of the quality of its products, the ongoing technical and service support and, in particular, its ISO/TS 29001 accreditation:

‘On a gas project there is a real focus on quality both in terms of the products and the construction process. All aspects must meet the highest international standards, and the fact that Fusion Group holds ISO/TS 29001 accreditation for its manufacturing processes was a major factor in winning the work.

The contractor, 3NE Energy Company, recognised the value of the automatic pin system on Fusion Group’s Fusamatic electrofusion fittings. The automatic pin recognition system ensures the correct welding parameters are used automatically without any secondary input from the operative. The automatic pin eliminates the potential for human error and allows the operative to focus on completing other aspects of the welding process correctly.

I was impressed with the professionalism of 3NE’s workforce. They followed the welding procedures to the letter, and made a major contribution to the overall quality of the final installation.’