First Gen Corp. said it is now more motivated to develop a liquefied natural gas facility, following the decision of the government to veer away from a government-to-government mode of project development.
“We are excited about it. We will continue to pursue it. We would be interested,” First Gen president Francis Giles Puno said.
Puno said First Gen had not yet received word from state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. on the country’s planned LNG hub.
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said last week PNOC, which was tasked to implement the planned “common carrier” liquefied natural gas receiving and distribution infrastructure, had not submitted any shortlist to the department for evaluation.
“None yet. They are still working on the framework. They are still completing it. They have not chosen,” Cusi said.
First Gen earlier announced a plan to put up an LNG terminal that would support its power plants in Batangas with the expected depletion of Malampaya natural gas in the next 10 to 12 years.
First Gen owns the 1,000-megawatt Sta. Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo, 414-MW San Gabriel and 97-MW Avion natural gas plants in Batangas province.
Puno earlier said the company was keen on taking part in the development of an LNG facility and the company would be “flexible” in terms of ownership stake in the terminal “to make sure that the project will push through.”
“We’re more motivated to make sure that the project pushes through and we have a good consortium that will support it. And we think that there are a number of players that will support it because it’s an important infrastructure for the country,” Puno said.
“First Gen believes LNG represents the fuel of the future as it is competitive, clean and flexible and complements renewables and storage technologies,” the company said earlier.
First Gen and PNOC were engaged in talks for the development of an LNG facility.
The government said it was now looking at unsolicited bids for the development of the LNG hub after not finding a suitable government-to-government proposal.
PNOC earlier received government-to-government proposals from China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore and United Arab Emirates.
The six countries were being evaluated based on five key components of their proposals which include LNG storage, liquefaction, regassification, power plant and distribution channel.
Sources, however, said PNOC was not happy with the proposals from the six countries.
