A group of foreign banks on July 1 signed a contract to loan 280 million USD to the PetroVietnam Gas Joint Stock Corporation for the first phase of the Nam Con Son 2 gas pipeline project.

The 7-year loan is provided by 11 banks from Thailand, Japan and China, including Taiwan’s Cathay United Bank, which arranged the credit.

The total investment of the first phase tops 783.6 million USD.

Under this phase, 151.35 km of pipeline will be built to transport gas from Dai Hung and Thien Ung oil fields in the Nam Con Son basin off the coast of southern Vung Tau city to the land, helping meet the increasing demand for this kind of fuel in Vietnam’s southeastern region.

The pipeline is believed to create infrastructure for oil and gas exploration in the Nam Con Son basin, and the import of gas in the future.

The Nam Con Son 2 project includes the construction of 325km of pipeline at sea and another 30km on land.-VNA