First Gen issues bid notice for LNG procurement

Leading clean energy firm First Gen Corporation has formally issued its tender notice for the spot procurement of liquefied natural gas (LNG) that it will use for the ‘wet commissioning’ of its LNG import facility.

In its invitation to bid (ITB) for LNG spot tender, the company has specified delivery window for the 154,5000 cubic meters of gas volume between August 1 to September 30 this year.

First Gen stipulated that it is seeking to “procure a single cargo of LNG on a DES (delivered ex-ship) basis,” and this shall be carried out by its subsidiary First Gen Singapore Pte Ltd.

DES refers to a pricing mechanism that values delivered LNG at its final destination or upon unloading at the receiving terminal.

The award of the procured LNG is expected to be firmed up by July 6 this year, according to First Gen – and that is a timeline prior to the targeted commercial commissioning of its floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) by September.

The company added that the commodity procurement will be utilized by its existing gas-fired power plants in Batangas to kick off propounded fuel shift to LNG. Its fleet of gas-fed power facilities include the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita, 500MW San Lorenzo, 414MW San Gabriel and 97MW Avion electric generating assets.

“Bids are invited from experienced LNG suppliers for the supply of one LNG cargo on a delivered ex-ship basis at the Subic Bay freeport, to be loaded into the BW Batangas after facilitating its gassing-up and cooling down utilizing the delivered LNG cargo,” First Gen emphasized.

The company specified that “prior to receiving the bid documents, interested bidders are requested to execute a Confidentiality Agreement.”

First Gen similarly stated that “all bids must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the instructions in the bid documents pursuant to the ITB.”

The Lopez-led firm primarily apprised interested parties that it “reserves the right at its sole discretion to cancel the invitation to bid or to reject any or all bids prior the acceptance of a bid proposal.”

The shift of the Philippine gas plants to LNG is one of the policy directions set forth by the government as it grapples with predicament of depleting gas production at the Malampaya facility, the country’s sole commercial gas field to-date.