PNOC shortlists 6 countries for US$2b LNG projec

The project includes a 200MW gas-fired plant.

Philippines' state-owned energy company Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) has short-listed six countries, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, and will select one of them to take part to its planned US$2bn LNG hub project in the Philippines, according to Enerdata.

The LNG hub project was presented in June 2017 and will include an LNG import, storage and regasification terminal with a capacity of 5 Mt/year (6.75 bcm/year) along with a 200 MW gas-fired power plant, whose capacity could later be expanded to 1,000 MW. The project is expected to be commissioned as early as in 2020, four years before the planned depletion of the Malampaya gas field in 2024.

In addition to Energy World Corporation, which should commission a 4.1 bcm/year floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Pagbilao (Quezon) by the end of 2017, several companies have expressed interest in developing LNG import terminals in the archipelago, including Manila Electric Company (talks with Osaka Gas have been suspended) and First Gen (plan for a US$1bn LNG import terminal). Shell, the operator of the Malampaya gas field, is also considering developing an FSRU in Batangas to inject gas in the Philippines transmission network as of 2021.

This story was originally published by Enerdata.