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The
government has yet to decide if the additional
natural-gas supply from Malampaya will be channeled for
power generation or for transport fuel.
First Gen Corp. (FGC) said it is still
waiting for the go-signal from the Department of Energy
(DOE) and the consortium owners on how to deal with the
excess gas supply.
Richard B. Tantoco, FGC chief operating
officer, told reporters they believe that the (Malampaya
consortium) wants to secure an agreement with the DOE
before moving with the planned project to sell
additional gas within the year or toward the tailend of
this year.
Tantoco said the producer (Malampaya
consortium) and the owner (the government) have to agree
on whether the additional gas supply would be used for
power generation or as a transport fuel.
“So if the gas sellers were to sell
additional gas, the use of that gas has to be approved
by the government,” he added. “Just about a week ago we
were in discussions with the gas seller, the Malampaya
consortium.”
The Malampaya consortium is composed of
Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (Spex), Chevron
Malampaya Llc. and Philippine National Oil
Co.-Exploration Corp. Tantoco said
Initial estimated reserve of the gas
field could run power facilities with a capacity of up
to 3,000 megawatts (MW) for 25 years, although
consortium leader Spex recently indicated that
production may even go beyond its earlier assumption.
The majority of the gas output have
already been committed to 2,700 MW of capacity for
commercial operation. The next target is to sell the
additional capacity for 300- to 500-MW power projects.
In November last year, FGC revealed that
it plans to build the said power plant in four phases,
with 125-MW generating capacity for each phase. But
apart from the gas supply, companies like First Gen and
Korea Electric Power Corp. have earlier sought for a
clear policy direction on the government’s plan to bid
out the 300-MW supply contract originally set for the
shelved San Pascual cogeneration project. |
