Vietnam has seen about $30 billion worth of gas-fired power and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal projects cancelled, removed from development plans or left with no significant progress between 2021 and 2026, according to a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The findings, published in the report LNG-to-Power in Emerging Asia: A Five-Year Review of Project Outcomes, put Vietnam at the centre of a wider slowdown in LNG power development across the region.

The report reviewed LNG projects in Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Bangladesh. It found that Vietnam accounted for around 44 percent of the total value of projects cancelled or stalled across the four markets. IEEFA stressed that the $30 billion figure is an estimated investment value, not capital already spent or actual losses, and that some projects on the list have made no progress rather than being formally cancelled.

Thirty projects, 32,650 megawatts affected

In Vietnam alone, the report counts 30 gas-fired power and LNG terminal projects affected. At least 20 LNG-fired power projects or project phases, with combined capacity of 32,650 megawatts, were cancelled, removed from priority lists or made no significant progress over the five years. Their estimated investment value is about $26.33 billion.

The list includes several large complexes named in the report, among them Kê Gà at 3,600 megawatts, three Khánh Hòa projects totalling 4,500 megawatts, two Tiên Lãng phases at 4,500 megawatts, later phases of the Cà Ná project at 4,500 megawatts and Công Thanh II at 3,000 megawatts.

Only a fraction was built

Across the four markets studied, only about 11 percent of the total capacity of surveyed gas-fired power projects was actually completed during 2021 to 2026, while the completion rate for LNG terminal capacity was about 15 percent. In Vietnam, only one LNG-fired power project reached commercial operation in the last five years, according to the report's country analysis.

Across all four countries, IEEFA surveyed 92 proposed LNG-fired power projects worth an estimated $109.2 billion and 44 LNG import terminals valued at $21 billion. Of those, 49 power plants and 22 regasification terminals, worth a combined $67.8 billion, were cancelled or showed no notable progress. That is nearly four and a half times the value of projects completed in the same period.

Costs and financing blamed

The report points to rising costs and financing risks as the main reasons projects stalled. Sam Reynolds, a co-author of the report and IEEFA Asia's LNG and gas research lead, said shifts in fuel, equipment and currency markets had raised execution risks for LNG-to-power projects in emerging Asia while weakening the revenue certainty needed to secure project financing.

Asian spot LNG prices reached $27.50 per million British thermal units in September 2026, nearly three times pre-conflict levels, according to the report. For Vietnam, IEEFA also cited persistent problems with the bankability of power contracts and the risk that LNG cost increases cannot be recovered through electricity tariffs, threatening the financial health of the state-owned utility.

The findings raise questions about Vietnam's LNG-to-power targets, which depend on gas-fired plants to balance a fast-growing power system. IEEFA's review suggests that, five years into the programme, most of the planned capacity has yet to materialise, and the projects that did advance faced far higher costs than first assumed.