The Asian Development Bank may extend financing to the government for the planned $150-million 100-kilometer Batangas-Manila natural gas pipeline.
ADB senior advisor for energy Pil-Bae Song told reporters the multilateral lender had supported gas transmission pipeline projects in other countries such as Bangladesh in the past.
“We don’t normally get involved in upstream activities which is led by the private sector. So if there’s a request from the government of the Philippines, as part of the overall country operation plan, that is another thing we may consider,” Song said.
Song said LNG was a good source of energy while the use of natural gas was expected to grow in the short term.
“I think we have to also support that kind of technology and evolutions to make sure that there’s sufficient energy to sustain economic growth,” the ADB official said.
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras earlier said if the private sector was not willing to invest in the pipeline, “then government has to do something to step in to spur the natural gas industry.”
The pipeline is supposed to run from the Malampaya gas-fired facility in Batangas to Sucat, Parañaque, where the Sucat power plant may be converted into a natural gas facility.
The pipeline project, which the state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. was tasked to lead, is the first phase of the government’s natural gas program.
Results of the Japan International Cooperation Agency’s study on the natural gas sector found there is a 600-megawatt demand from industries located along the Batangas-Manila pipeline.
The JICA report recommended that the construction of the pipeline start by first quarter of 2013.
San Miguel Corp. expressed interest in participating in the pipeline project, which has also drawn interest from foreign investors such as PTT of Thailand, Japanese power firm Marubeni Corp. and Russian power firm Gazprom.
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/June/13) source
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