‘Hasten construction of LNG terminals’
BY LENIE LECTURA – MAY 4, 2022
from Business Mirror
The chairman of the Energy Lawyers Association of the Philippines (ELAP) said power industry stakeholders must move forward following the suspension of exploration activities in the West Philippine Sea.
“We must accept that we might not be able to explore the West Philippine Sea and then move forward based on that assumption,” said Atty. Pedro Maniego during the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines’ webinar titled “Ensuring Energy Security for Tomorrow.”
Fast-tracking the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the country is one way, said Maniego.
“I think it will take a long time to resolve the West Philippine Sea considering the hard stance of the Chinese government that the area belongs to them. What we need is accept that probably we will not be able to drill there for a long time and accelerate LNG terminals because we need them.
If we cannot have our own supply, we need to import LNG and how do you store them? You need the LNG terminals,” he said.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), three LNG terminals are expected to start operations this year. These are the Pagbilao LNG terminal of Energy World Corp., Philippines LNG terminal of Atlantic Gulf & Pacific (AG&P), and the Batangas LNG of First Gen Corp. and partner Tokyo Gas. “There are already some applications for that but these are delayed and they are not moving fast enough because the projection is by 2024 or 2025 we will run out of Malampaya gas. Also, 2024 is the end of the agreement and it is already 2022.That is only two years from now and it takes a long time to build a terminal,” Maniego said.
Gas from the Malampaya field is projected to be depleted by 2027. In fact, there has been gas restriction experienced in 2021 and early 2022. The Malampaya gas contract held by a consortium, meanwhile, is set to expire in 2024.
The DOE earlier directed PXP Energy Corp. to put on hold all exploration activities for Service Contracts 72 and 75 until such time that the Security, Justice and Peace Coordinating Cluster has issued the necessary clearance to proceed.
