First Gen taps BW Gas as FSRU provider

By LENIE LECTURA – APRIL 6, 2021
from Business Mirror

File photo: First Gen’s natural gas power plants in Batangas

A unit of First Gen Corp. (First Gen) has selected BW FSRU IV Pte Ltd. as its FSRU (Floating Storage Regasification Unit) provider, bringing FGEN LNG Corp. (FGEN LNG) a step closer to introducing LNG (liquefied natural gas) in the country next year.

FGEN LNG executed a 5-year Time Charter Party with BW FSRU IV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BW Gas Limited, for the charter of a FSRU in respect of FGEN LNG’s Interim Offshore LNG Terminal that will be built at the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City, Philippines.

The BW Paris FSRU has an LNG storage capacity of 162,400 m3 and a nominal and peak gas send out capacity of 500 MMscfd (million standard cubic feet per day) and 750 MMscfd, respectively. When compared to the Malampaya gas facility, the nominal send out capacity of the BW Paris is 25 percent more. Malampaya, at its peak, produced a maximum gas volume of approximately 400 MMscfd.

The LNG project will allow FGEN LNG to accelerate its ability to introduce LNG to the Philippines as early as third quarter of next year, to serve the natural gas requirements of existing and future gas-fired power plants of third parties and FGEN LNG affiliates.

“FGEN LNG believes the project will play a critical role in ensuring the energy security of the Luzon Grid and the Philippines, particularly as the indigenous Malampaya gas resource is expected to be less reliable in producing and providing sufficient fuel supply for the country’s existing gas-fired power plants, and even less so for additional gas-fired power plants.

The entry of LNG will encourage new power plant developments, as well as industrial and transport industries, to consider it as a replacement to more costly and polluting fuels,” it said.

An FSRU is a Liquefied Natural Gas Carrier (LNGC) that is capable of storing LNG and which has an onboard regasification plant capable of returning LNG into a gaseous state and then supplying it directly into the gas network.

A typical FSRU has a storage capacity of between 125,000 m3 and 170,000 m3. According to the International Gas Union World LNG Report – 2020 Edition, approximately 6 percent of the global fleet of 541 LNGC vessels operate as FSRUs as of the end of 2019.

BW FSRU is involved in the global market of transportation and floating regasification services of LNG, including construction, ownership, and operation of FSRUs and other LNGCs.

Last year, FGEN LNG chose McConnell Dowell Philippines Inc. for the LNG terminal’s engineering, procurement and construction contract.

FGEN has partnered with Japan’s Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd for the design, development, testing, commissioning, construction, ownership, and operations and maintenance of the LNG project.