State-owned Philippine National Oil Co. said it plans to tap the Asian Development Bank to evaluate the proposals for the development of the first liquefied natural gas project.
“We talked with ADB. ADB will be our consultant. We are negotiating with ADB,” PNOC president Reuben Lista said.
Three companies already submitted unsolicited proposals to team up with PNOC for the LNG integrated facility, including Korea Electric Power Corp., LLoyds Energy Group and China National Offshore Oil Corp.
“They are now being evaluated by the TWG [technical working group]. Whoever wins, ADB will evaluate their offer. Is it really attainable? Will we really make money?” Lista said.
PNOC said it was previously looking at the International Finance Corp., a member of the World Bank Group, to develop the terms of reference for the conduct of the detailed feasibility study for the optimization of the banked gas and liquefied natural gas terminal project. Talks with IFC did not push through.
Lista said ADB would now look at the technical, financial and other parameters of the LNG proposals including plans for the LNG hub.
He said the consultant would come out with the terms of reference for a solicited proposal, if the unsolicited proposals were not acceptable to government.
PNOC set the deadline for acceptance of unsolicited offers until Dec. 31, 2017.
CNOOC has a pending application with the government to partner with PNOC Exploration Corp. in service contract 57 in northwest Palawan. Lloyds, meanwhile, is a Dubai-based firm involved in LNG development.
“We want to have groundbreaking by 2018. We hope to start the project because it will require two years,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said earlier.
The department is also set to release the implementing guidelines of the Philippine Natural Gas Regulation, a policy issuance that would govern the entry and development LNG regas terminal and its related facilities in the Philippines.
Cusi said he wanted the Philippines to become the hub of LNG in Southeast Asia.
He said the government aimed to roll out the Batangas LNG terminal by 2020 to safeguard against the anticipated depletion of the Malampaya gas facility by 2024.
