DOE: Two LNG projects seen to start commissioning in second half 2022

Two liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility projects are expected to start commissioning in the second half of 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Thursday.

Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos told the House Committee on Appropriations that the LNG terminal projects of First Gen Corporation and Atlantic Gulf & Pacific Company of Manila (AG&P) have already secured notices to proceed and notices to construct, rehabilitate, and maintain from the DOE.

“Naka-intend na buksan po or mai-commission sa second semester o pagtatapos ng Hunyo sa susunod na taon 2022,” Marcos said.

The commissioning of a facility is part of preparations prior to its actual commercial operations.

First Gen, through its wholly-owned unit FGEN LNG Corp. and its partner Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd., is building a Floating Storage & Regasification Unit (FSRU) in its complex in Batangas City.

The facility is expected to have a capacity of 5.26 million tons per annum.

An FSRU is an LNG storage ship that has an onboard regasification plant capable of returning LNG back into a gaseous state.

AG&P, meanwhile, is building an Onshore Regasification Terminal, also in Batangas.

AG&P’s LNG terminal is seen to have the initial capacity to deliver up to 3 million tonnes per annum of regasified LNG, with additional capacity for liquid distribution.

“So by next year, we expect the liquefied natural gas facilities to be in place so that we will have a new industry of energy,” Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said during the House panel hearing.

The DOE is pushing for an LNG terminal facility to avoid a spike in consumer electricity rates once the Malampaya natural gas reserves are depleted.

The Malampaya gas-to-power facility fuels three gas-fired power plants with a total generating capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW)—providing up to 30% of the power generation needs of Luzon.

Connected to onshore gas plants in Batangas, the Malampaya offshore facility in Northern Palawan was inaugurated in 2001.

Estimates show its gas reserves are sufficient from 2022 to 2024. — BM, GMA News