The Southeast Asian country will need to import liquefied natural gas to feed existing power plants with a combined capacity of about 3,200 megawatts as the Malampaya gas field in western Philippine waters is expected to run dry.
While Malampaya supply may last up to 2027, current reserves are not enough for the planned expansion of LNG usage into industrial, commercial, residential and transport sectors.
Below are the projects proposed capacities, investment costs, timetable and status.
Batangas Clean Energy LNG Import Terminal
Companies: Batangas Clean Energy Inc, a consortium led by Filipino-Chinese billionaire Lucio Tan
Type: onshore terminal with 1,100-MW power plant
Capacity: 3 million tonnes per year
Investment cost: 37.6 billion pesos
Location: Batangas City
Start of operation: 2025
Status: DOE's Notice To Proceed issued early this year
Excelerate Floating LNG Import Terminal
Company: Texas-based Excelerate Energy LP
Type: Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU)
Capacity: 1.5 million tpy
Investment cost: 6.4 billion pesos
Location: Batangas Bay
Start of operation: 2021
Status: DOE's To Proceed issued in September 2019
FGEN Batangas LNG Import Terminal
Company: First Gen Corp
Type: FSRU
Capacity: 5 million tpy
Investment cost: 13.3 billion pesos
Location: near First Gen's energy complex in Batangas
Start of operation: 2022
Status: Three preferred bidders named for FSRU chartering
Pagbilao LNG Hub Terminal
Company: Energy World Corp Ltd
Type: onshore terminal with 650 MW power plant
Capacity: 3 million tpy
Investment cost: 7.4 billion pesos
Location: Pagbilao, Quezon Province
Start of operation: 2022
Status: land acquisition for right of way requirements ongoing
(Graphic: LNG Import Terminal Projects in the Philippines - )
(Graphic: Philippines' natural gas supply and demand - )
By Enrico Dela Cruz