THE Department of Energy (DOE) said it is inviting foreign investors to help the country develop the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector.
During the recent LNG Producer-Consumer Conference 2016 in Japan, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi presented the LNG road map of the country, in a bid to promote fuel diversification for energy stability and affordability.
“As an emerging LNG market in Asia, my country, the Philippines, can take advantage of the current period of oversupply and the relatively low prices of LNG,” Cusi said in his keynote address for the third session of the said forum.
The Philippines’s only gas asset is the Malampaya Gas Field, where 98 percent of its total production is used for power generation supplying fuel to five natural-gas plants in Batangas. These are the Ilijan, Santa Rita, San Lorenzo, San Gabriel and Avion, with a total installed capacity of 3,211 megawatts (MW) providing the electricity requirement of Luzon and even the Visayas.
However, gas supply from Malampaya is expected to deplete by 2022. With this, Cusi provided the natural-gas project prospects in the country for the Japanese and other international investors to develop, which includes LNG importation, off-grid or missionary islands conversion to natural-gas power plants and even nonpower applications, such as in transportation.
Through this forum, Cusi encouraged the international community to tighten partnerships in further developing and promoting the LNG industry, especially in the Philippines.
Weighing the technology-resource efficiency, Cusi explained that “LNG can provide the demand from baseload, midmerit and peaking requirements and can compete with other fuel sources that can address the least-cost optimal electricity from such demand centers.”
Supported by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, the LNG Producer-Consumer Conference has been held every year since 2012 to further promote a shared understanding and cooperation between producers and consumers.
This year it was cohosted by the Asia-Pacific Energy Research Centre s with over 50 countries and regions participated, bringing together ministers, senior officials and relevant company executives from LNG producing-consuming countries.