The Philippines has shortlisted six countries and will pick one of them as partner to build a $2bn integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.
The facility will include gas storage facility with a capacity of five million tons per annum (mtpa) and a power plant with an initial capacity of 200MW.
It will also have components for liquefaction, regasification, and a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU).
THE Philippine National Oil (PNOC) technical advisor Arwin Ardon said that the shortlisted nations for the LNG facility include China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Ardon was quoted by Reuters as saying: "(The LNG project) is a complete package with storage facility, regasification, a power plant that is scalable up to 1,000 megawatts (MW), and redistribution.”
However, Ardon did not disclose the details on when a partner would be selected for the project.
Ardon added that PNOC is aiming to have a 60-40 equity arrangement for the project, allowing the Philippines to own a controlling stake.
Last month, Philippines Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that the construction of the LNG project could be finished by 2020, before the country's Malampaya natural gas field becomes depleted by 2024.
Currently, the country’s generates a fifth of power supply by using Malampaya gas field. It plans to import LNG before the reserves in the field diminish.
The LNG hub will come up on a property in Batangas owned by PNOC.
Cusi was quoted by BusinessWorld as saying that the planned LNG infrastructure is targeted at making the country a hub for the energy resource in Southeast Asia.
Image: The LNG hub will come up on a property in Batangas owned by PNOC. Photo courtesy of akiraone/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.