LNG roadmap may come out in Q1

The initial report commissioned for the 25-year Philippine natural gas master plan has only just come out, but the Department of Energy (DOE) said the full roadmap to a local gas market could be completed early this year.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said in a text message the master plan was supposed to have been finished in 2013. However, the work was delayed because of efforts to quickly restore power lines and related facilities in disaster-hit areas.

Investors are awaiting the final plan to align their respective strategies with the policy direction and market assumptions set in the roadmap. The DOE website published the initial report by Hong Kong-based consulting firm Lantau Group and sought comments from the public starting last December.

There will be another draft before the final and complete master plan comes out, the DOE said.

“We have to be careful because this is the first time we are putting up the LNG (liquefied natural gas) industry,” DOE Undersecretary Ramon Allan V. Oca said.

According to the Lantau Group’s report, that government may designate gas as a “preferred energy” based on merits such as “urban air cleanliness,” “inherent higher efficiency,” and “urban convenience” (pipeline distribution seen as superior to road transport).

Global demand for natural gas, seen to be among the more feasible alternatives to oil and coal, has been rising steadily.