First Gen Bids for Philippines Import Terminal
Manila-listed First Gen Corporation has put in an official bid to develop an LNG terminal in the Philippines.
“FGEN LNG Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Gen Corporation, earlier today submitted its application to the Department of Energy for a Notice to Proceed (NTP) as defined in and required by the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Regulation (PDNGR). The application is for the construction of the FGEN Batangas LNG terminal project to be located in the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City,” it said in a stock exchange filing December 21.
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First Gen is one of the biggest independent power producers and the leading gas power generation company in the Philippines with approximately 2 GW in operating gas assets composed of four gas-fired power plants – the 1 GW Santa Rita plant, the 500 MW San Lorenzo plant, the 414 MW San Gabriel plant and the 97 MW Avion plant, all of which currently operate on Malampaya gas supply.
The Philippines government is encouraging global investors to build LNG infrastructure as it needs to keep its gas-fired generating assets viable – and attract new investment – after Malampaya, the country’s only commercial gas field, dries up in the next five to six years.
Earlier this month, Japanese utility, Tokyo Gas, signed an agreement with First Gen to develop an LNG receiving terminal in the country. Tokyo Gas will take a 20% participating interest in the FGEN LNG project and provide support in development work to achieve a Final Investment Decision (FID). Upon reaching FID, the parties will enter into a definitive agreement to proceed with the construction of the FGEN Batangas LNG terminal project, First Gen said.
In addition to the Tokyo Gas-First Gen agreement, other deals have been signed this year. In June, Phoenix Petroleum, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Cnooc Gas and Power, a unit of China’s Cnooc, to develop an LNG import terminal. In the same month South Korea's SK E&S signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Philippines government for the construction of LNG infrastructure in the country worth $1.7bn.
Australia-listed Energy World Corporation (EWC) said in February that it has 90%-completed its 130,000 m3 capacity LNG hub terminal on Pagbilao Island in Quezon province, 90 km southeast of Manila; it will be capable of handling up to 3mn metric tons/yr of LNG.