LNG

Dec 27 (LNGJ) - JERA Co. Inc, the largest Japanese LNG importer and power supplier, has concluded an agreement to support the expansion of LNG and gas-fired power in the Philippines through system designs and tight regulatory oversight. The agreement was concluded following JERA’s selection as the contracted party for the oversight project. “The Republic of the Philippines is expected to expand its adoption of gas-fired thermal power generation due to the increased demand for electricity accompanying the country’s robust economic growth,” said JERA

   The Tokyo-based company said its role would include developing national systems including regulatory frameworks to “support the full-scale adoption of LNG in the Philippines and support for developing regulations for facilities” related to the construction, operation and maintenance of LNG storage and regasification terminals, gas transportation and distribution systems as well as third-party access.

The US Department of Energy published its latest LNG export data with France, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK and South Korea and Japan being the main destinations while prices for that period began to rise and shipments from Calcasieu Pass were the most expensive.

The Philippines is gradually increasing its activities in the liquefied natural gas trading and tender market with the Singapore-based unit of commodities firm Trafigura winning the latest Filipino cargo tender.

First Gen Corp., the utility and energy group in the Philippines delivering the southeast Asian nation’s second floating LNG import terminal, concluded an international tender deal for an LNG commissioning cargo with Shell Eastern Trading.

June 23 (LNGJ) - The “BW Batangas”, the second floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) chartered for a company in the Philippines for an LNG import terminal, has arrived at Batangas Bay, according to shipping data, for an LNG import project with commercial start-up before September.

   The vessel with 162,500 cubic metres of capacity, the renamed “BW Paris”, has been chartered from BW LNG of Singapore by a venture led by Filipino power company First Gen Corp., which has also tendered for a commissioning cargo. The first Philippines floating LNG project started earlier in 2023 and is suppling another local power company SMC Global Power Holdings. This project involves the LNG floating storage unit “Ish” as part of a venture developed by Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Company near Batangas Bay.

The Philippines, the newest liquefied natural gas importing nation, has held talks with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and said the JBIC had expressed interest in energy joint ventures.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, whose subsidiary supplied the first floating LNG terminal for the Philippines, is also involved in the latest supply deal for the Malampaya natural gas field offshore Palawan.

The Government of the Philippines said it was still open to global energy company investors interested in exploration and production ventures in its offshore waters for domestic natural gas to supplement LNG imports amid the extension of the gas-to-power agreement linked to the Malampaya gas field.

The Philippines has entered the LNG importer list in a low-key way after years of planning as a cool-down cargo was delivered to Subic Bay for the Floating Storage Unit (FSU) “Ish” as part of the commissioning of the first LNG terminal in Batangas Bay and a second vessel for a separate project is scheduled to arrive in July.

The Philippines Department of Energy has approved a seventh LNG import project, though the first is not scheduled to come on line until later in 2023 as the southeast Asian nation appears left on the starting line compared with the rapid deployment of infrastructure in Germany in a matter of months rather than the years it's taking to  complete one Filipino regasification venture.