Phoenix, China firm to start LNG project in 2019

An affiliate of Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. is looking at starting construction of a liquefied natural gas facility this year and start commercial operations by 2023 after securing a notice to proceed from the Department of Energy (DOE).

In a statement, Phoenix said Tanglawan Philippines LNG Inc. intended to build the LNG facility in Batangas.

The project will be a joint venture between Phoenix and China’s largest LNG importer and terminal operator, state-owned CNOOC Gas and Power Group Co. Ltd.

Phoenix chief operating officer Henry Albert Fadullon said Tanglawan planned to break ground by 2019 for the regasification and receiving terminal with a capacity of 2.2 million metric tons a year, with commercial operations targeted to start by 2023.

Fadullon said the LNG facility would help support demand for a clean and reliable energy source in Luzon and contribute to the sustainable development of the economy.

“The terminal is only stage one of our plans for the facility,” he said. “We will develop it to become an LNG hub, giving Filipinos access to low-cost and environment-friendly energy supply.”

The COO said the long-term plan was for an integrated project that included the development of a gas-fired power generation facility “with up to 2,000 megawatts installed capacity.”

But in an interview last December, Fadullon said the power generation component was for a generator complex that has six units at 360 MW each, or a total of 2,160 MW.

Last week, Australian company Energy World Corp. (EWC) said the DOE granted an extension of its permit to build a similar project in Quezon province, which is now nearing completion.

EWC’s projects comprised of two onshore tanks with a pump capacity of 130,000 cubic meters of LNG each. The facility also has an accompanying power plant complex with three generators accounting for a total of 650 MW of generating capacity.