San Miguel eyes natural gas as fuel for power facilities

San Miguel Corp. has revived its interest in using natural gas to fuel its planned facilities under its 3,000-megawatt power portfolio.

SMC president Ramon S. Ang confirmed that aside from coal, the company was looking to use either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel for its proposed power facilities.

The company, through its power generation arm SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., is planning to build six power facilities in various locations across the country, including a 1,200-MW plant in Cavite—the biggest of the proposed facilities in its power portfolio; a 600-MW power-generating facility in Bulacan, and another plant in Leyte, also with a 600-MW capacity.

In Panay, a 150-MW power plant is being considered as well.

In Mindanao, SMC Global targets to put up a 300-MW power plant in Davao del Sur and a 150-MW facility in South Cotabato, where San Miguel last year acquired three coal mines that have resources capable of powering a 750-MW facility over the next 25 years.

Last year, Ang also disclosed the company’s interest in bidding for the $1.3-billion Batangas-Manila (BatMan 1) natural gas pipeline, an infrastructure said to be critical to jump-starting the much delayed natural gas program of the Department of Energy.

However, most of the companies interested in natural gas are on a wait-and-see stance as the DOE awaits the final report from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).

Jica is reevaluating opportunities in the natural gas industry and identifying which infrastructure will be deemed as priority projects and what kind of investments will be needed. It also evaluated the viability of importing natural gas and the potential sources. The final report by Jica will likewise contain a validation of the supply and demand statistics as this would spell out the viability of the natural gas program.

Energy Undersecretary Jose M. Layug Jr. earlier said that Jica would submit the final results of its study within the month.

San Miguel is the biggest power player in the country with an installed capacity of more than 3,000 MW. This capacity may decrease as the company is now finalizing the sale of the 620-MW combined cycle facility in Limay, Bataan.