Shell’s $1-B gas platform, other projects on track

Oil giant Shell is ready to commission its second gas platform in the Malampaya gas field off Palawan, which fuels 40 percent of the Luzon grid’s power supply.

The company is also on track with other multibillion peso investments in its Philippine portfolio, Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) managing director Sebastian Quiniones said during a briefing.

“We will have the platform operating by the middle of the year,” Quiniones said.

SPEX is in charge of the Malampaya gas field operation.

The investment for the new platform project is set at about P44.6 billion ($1 billion). The installation will enable SPEX to serve the requirements of the gas-fired power plants under its wing. Collectively, Shell’s power plants generate about 2,700 megawatts (MW).

On Shell’s other projects in the Philippines, Quiniones said the company was “doing good” with its P6-billion fuel import terminal in Cagayan de Oro City and the roughly P6.7 billion ($150 million) expansion of its 110,000-barrel-a-day refinery in Tabangao, Batangas province.

Asked about the refinery upgrade, Quiniones said that the Malampaya terminal down south and the refinery are “doing good.”

The refinery upgrade will allow the company to meet new fuel standards, or the so-called Euro IV, which is set for implementation by January 2016.

In November 2014, Quiniones said Shell would invest up to P6 billion in a fuel import terminal in Cagayan de Oro City—Shell’s second such facility in the Philippines after Batangas—ahead of the anticipated rise in fuel demand in Mindanao and nearby areas. The operation of the import terminal in Mindanao will cut transport costs and further stabilize supply for the region, as well as for the Visayas.