05:01
AM May 02, 2019
Three Chinese
state-owned companies have agreed to develop a 102-hectare property into an
energy complex in the coastal village of Simlong in Batangas City.
The memorandums of
understanding (MOUs) for the $3-billion (P155.24-billion) investment in
Batangas province were signed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to
Beijing last week.
The Philippines bagged
$12 billion (P620.96 billion) worth of other trade deals, and industrial and
infrastructure projects during the visit.
Simlong Energy
Development Corp., which is named after the coastal village, signed the MOUs
with China Gezhouba Group Co. Ltd. (CGGC), China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering
Co. Ltd. (CPP) and the China Harbour Engineering Corp. (CHEC).
Energy Secretary
Alfonso Cusi witnessed the event.
Three phases
Simlong Energy is an
affiliate of Abacore Capital Holdings Inc., which Batangas Gov. Hermilando
Mandanas helped establish in 1989. Mandanas’ wife, Regina Reyes, is one of
Abacore’s directors.
In a telephone
interview upon his return from Beijing on Tuesday, Mandanas said the project
could be one of the biggest in the Philippines, making Batangas the country’s
“de facto energy center.”
He said the project
would generate local revenue and employment.
Land preparation would
begin in June, paving the way for a project in three phases, which would be completed
before Mr. Duterte’s term ends in 2022, Mandanas said.
CGGC, the same company
tapped for the development of New Clark City in Tarlac, will undertake the land
development and the construction of the power plants.
For export
The first phase is for
the construction of a refinery for naphtha, a lightweight petrochemical
commonly used as solvent in making cleaning fluids and varnish.
According to Mandanas,
the existing naphtha cracker plant of the Gokongwei-led JG Summit Petrochemical
Corp., which is also in Barangay Simlong, still imports the raw materials for
its production.
He said the bulk of the
naphtha production would be exported to China, Japan and Korea.
Favorable
The second phase
involves the construction of an energy port for oil, natural gas and liquefied
natural gas (LNG), and the final phase, the construction of a 1,560-megawatt
power plant to energize the complex and supplement the national grid.
CPP is tapped for the
construction of the refinery and storage tanks, and CHEC, for the port
facilities, and oil and gas terminals.
“Under the new maritime
laws for international shipping, vessels are now required to shift to LNG
(from) diesel or bunker for fuel for environmental reasons. In Asia, only
Singapore, Japan, Korea have LNG fuel facilities,” Mandanas said.
Batangas, which hosts
an international shipping port, is “geographically favorable” for an LNG port,
the governor said. —Maricar
Cinco
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