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Russia and Vietnam Deepen Energy Ties With Nuclear Power Agreement
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Russia and Vietnam have signed a cooperation agreement to build the first nuclear power plant in Vietnam. The announcement was made on Monday by the Russian state corporation Rosatom.
The deal was reached during a visit by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to Russia. Vietnam is currently looking to secure its fuel supplies due to energy disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East, which has led to concerns about global fuel shortages, according to The Moscow Times on March 23.
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Since the start of the war between the US, Israel, and Iran in late February, fuel prices in Vietnam have risen sharply.
The cost of 95-octane gasoline has increased by 50%, while diesel prices have gone up by 70%. This has put pressure on Vietnam, which serves as a major global manufacturing hub.
The new agreement establishes a legal framework for constructing two reactors. These reactors will have a total capacity of 2400 MW at the proposed Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant.
Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev stated that the agreement will be "the basis for a long-term industrial partnership that will strengthen Vietnam's energy independence and open new opportunities for economic growth."
The parties have not yet announced a specific timeline for when construction will begin or when the plant will start operating. Moscow and Hanoi originally agreed to build the Ninh Thuan-1 plant back in 2010, but the project was later put on hold.
In addition to the nuclear deal, Russia’s largest liquefied natural gas producer, Novatek, signed a preliminary agreement with a Vietnamese buyer.
Novatek CEO Leonid Mikhelson said, "We have been in negotiations with potential buyers for over five years and recently signed a preliminary supply agreement with one of them. We are ready to start deliveries as soon as possible."
He did not name the specific customer involved in the deal.
Russia and Vietnam also signed an agreement regarding oil and gas production in both countries. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin confirmed the deal through the TASS news agency but did not provide further details on the specifics of the production plans.
Russia and Vietnam developed a secretive financial workaround to conceal payments for arms deals and bypass international sanctions. According to internal documents, the arrangement allowed Hanoi to use profits from joint oil and gas projects in Siberia to pay down defense contracts for fighter jets, tanks, and warships.
By funneling these profits directly into debt repayments owed to Moscow, both nations managed to settle accounts without transferring money through the global banking system or the SWIFT network.
This mechanism was designed to shield the transactions from oversight and protect Vietnam from the risks of secondary sanctions while deepening its military partnership with Russia.
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