A KOREAN consortium, which includes Korea Western Power Co. Ltd., is studying a third site in Mariveles, Bataan for its proposed underground liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, according to the Department of Energy.

Jesus Tamang, director for the DOE energy policy and planning bureau, explained that the Korean consortium was still completing its feasibility study.

According to Tamang, the group received last December the go-ahead to begin conducting tests on the geological conditions of the third site.

The first two sites it had studied apparently did not meet the requirements of the consortium, he added.

The Korean companies are not only studying the feasibility of constructing a LNG terminal in the country, but also the possibility of relocating a 480-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired power plant from Korea.

Tamang said the government hoped the Korean consortium would proceed with the proposed projects to be able to add new capacities by 2011 or 2012.

Data from the DOE showed that the Luzon grid would need an additional capacity of 3,000 MW starting 2010; Visayas, 500 MW starting 2008, and Mindanao, 600 MW starting this year.

Current committed power projects are expected to add only 600 MW to the Luzon grid; 320 MW to the Visayas, and 100 MW to Mindanao.

The government has been seeking for investors that would pour in at least $5 billion between 2009 and 2014 to fully develop the country?s downstream natural gas industry.