LOPEZ-LED First Gen Corp. aims to start operating its offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Batangas before yearend and to complete the commissioning process by October, its president said.
“Hopefully, before the end of the year, it’s already complete, it’s already operational. What we need to do is to figure out how to [sustain] our regular LNG supply,” First Gen President and Chief Operating Officer Francis Giles B. Puno told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Tuesday.
He said the sourcing of the supply would depend on the market, but preferably during summer months when LNG is more affordable.
Mr. Puno said First Gen had received its first LNG shipment last month.
“We have the floating storage and regasification unit [FSRU], then we have the onshore facilities. Both of them are going through commissioning, so they are not yet connected. So, sometime by mid-October, hopefully, they will be connected,” he said.
In July, First Gen told the local bourse that it had secured an LNG cargo from Shell Eastern Trading Pte. Ltd. for the delivery of 154,500 cubic meters of LNG.
An LNG carrier will facilitate the gassing-up and cooling-down of the BW Batangas FSRU at Subic Bay before the cargo’s transfer into storage tanks on board.
The BW Batangas is the FSRU of First Gen’s wholly owned subsidiary FGEN LNG Corp. and floating gas infrastructure developer BW LNG.
It will provide LNG storage and regasification services to First Gen’s existing and planned gas-fired power plants and third-party terminal users.
After the LNG transfer into the storage tanks, the BW Batangas will then return to FGEN LNG’s terminal in Batangas to complete commissioning activities.
The cargo will be used by the company’s four natural gas-fired power plants in Batangas with a combined capacity of 2,017 megawatts that are currently supplied by the Malampaya gas field.
LNG is seen as the answer to the country’s power needs amid a looming power crisis with the expected depletion by 2027 of the Malampaya field, the country’s only indigenous source of natural gas.
On Tuesday, First Gen shares went up by 34 centavos or 1.86% to close at P18.58 apiece. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
