By Lenie Lectura - January
11, 2019
DAVAO-based businessman Dennis Uy’s
capital-intensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project has been cleared by the
Department of Energy (DOE).
The much-awaited Notice to Proceed
(NTP) was signed by the DOE on December 21, 2018, DOE Director Rino Abad said
in an interview on Thursday.
“December 21, 2018 is the effective
date,” Abad said, adding the NTP document was released from the Office of the
Secretary (OSec).
“We will not know if the NTP was
signed unless the paper has been transmitted from the OSec. At that time, when
we said it was not yet signed, what we were only aware that it was with the
Centralized Review and Evaluation Committee [CREC],” Abad said, explaining his
comment last Monday when the NTP was not yet signed.
CREC oversees and handles the
processing of service contracts in various segments of the sector. The
committee is chaired by DOE Undersecretary Donito Marcos.
Marcos and committee member DOE
Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III confirmed on Thursday in separate text
messages that the NTP was signed. Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi did not
reply to confirm.
Uy’s Phoenix Petroleum Corp. has
partnered with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) to develop an LNG hub
in the country.
The Philippine fuel retailer and
CNOOC formed Tanglawan Philippines LNG Inc. as the registered joint-venture
firm.
In its application, Tanglawan is
eyeing to build an LNG onshore terminal in Batangas with a capacity of 5
million metric tons per annum. It will also build a power plant with a capacity
of 1,000 megawatts to 2,000 MW.
Abad said Tanglawan would have to
secure other pertinent permits once it gets hold of the DOE-issued NTP.
“As provided by the Philippine
Downstream Natural Gas Regulation circular, the requirements for the next six
months [extendable for another six months based on valid reasons] is for the
company to get all the permits from other government agencies such as
Environmental Compliance Certificate and the National Commission on Indigenous
Peoples,” Abad said.
“Also, if applicable, the local
government unit endorsement, financial closing, etc. Upon compliance, it can now
proceed to construction,” he said.
Aside from Tanglawan, two more firms
filed their respective NTP applications.
US floating LNG player Excelerate
Energy filed early this month an application for a permit to proceed with its
plan to construct a proposed floating LNG terminal.
The pioneer and market leader in
innovative floating LNG solutions is planning to construct the facility in
Batangas.
Aside from Excelerate, the DOE has
received a similar application from Lopez-led First Gen Corp.
First Gen’s application stated it
will construct an LNG terminal in Batangas City with its partner Tokyo Gas Co.
Ltd. The latter will take a 20-percent participating interest in the Fgen
LNG project and provide support in development work to achieve a final investment
decision (FID). After this, the parties will enter into a definitive agreement
to proceed with the construction of the Fgen Batangas LNG terminal
project.
First Gen operates four gas-fired
power plants, namely, the 1,000-MW Santa Rita power plant, the 500-MW San
Lorenzo power plant, the 414-MW San Gabriel power plant and the 97-MW Avion
power plant.
Meanwhile, the DOE extended the
permit of Energy World Corp. (EWC) to near the end of December 2018, to build
the LNG import facility at Pagbilao Grande Island.
The permit provides EWC an
additional 24-month construction period that will enable the completion date
for the first tank of the LNG facility to be aligned to the commercial
operation date of the associated 650-MW power plant.
It will also provide time to align
the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines switchyard expansion under
construction and for the construction of the second LNG tank.
The 650-MW plant has been recognized
as the anchor off-taker of the LNG project which consists of two
130,000-cbm LNG tanks, a dedicated jetty and marine infrastructure, as
well as regasification and other ancillary facilities.
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