Philippines corporation First Gen is expected early next year to tender for a floating storage and regasification unit for what could yet become the nation’s first liquefied natural gas import project, writes Amanda Battersby.

First Gen has its sights on a leased FSRU that could enter operations by 2021 and deliver volumes to be used as feedstock for power generation.

The company is understood to have already had initial talks with potential FSRU suppliers and operators such as Hoegh, Excelerate Energy and BW.

“Until we know what we need, that’s when we can contract. So when we do that, it will probably be some time first quarter of next year,” said First Gen president Giles Puno.

First Gen still sees an onshore receiving and regasification facility as its “base case” for the touted LNG import scheme in Batangas on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon.

However, an FSRU could enable volumes to arrive before construction of any land-based facility is complete.

First Gen already has a development agreement with Tokyo Gas for the onshore LNG terminal, in which the Japanese company is expected to take 20% equity.

Meanwhile, compatriot JGC in September landed the engineering, procurement and construction contract after what is believed to have been a close contest with Fluor of the US.

JGC will waste no time in embarking on a detailed study of the existing jetty at Batangas to determine what modifications and reconfiguration would be required to berth the FSRU and handle LNG carriers.

“We’re studying that to see if there’s any fatal flaw, technical specification that needs to be done to essentially adjust the existing jetty that we have… that will determine also the size of the ship that we can bring in,” Puno was quoted as saying by BusinessWorld.

First Gen has a long-term contract to buy gas from Shell’s Malampaya field until 2024, and the FSRU will allow it to import volumes to supplement volumes from this mature field.

It is understood that the Philippines company has already reached out to potential LNG suppliers, initially for deliveries to the floater.

The Philippines Department of Energy recently designated the proposed Batangas LNG import scheme as an Energy Project of National Significance, which comes with perks such as faster permitting processes. First Gen described the project as possibly “the most significant energy infrastructure project to be undertaken in the Philippines in more than two decades”.

Weekly

First Gen looking at leased FSRU option