Shell lines up 3 major projects

MANILA, Philippines - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is gearing up for three major projects this year, its top official said.

The three projects consist of the planned import terminal in Cagayan de Oro, the upgrade of the deep water gas-to-power Malampaya natural gas oil field in offshore Palawan and its planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

“This year, we hope to complete the import terminal in Cagayan de Oro,” said Shell country chairperson Ed Chua.

The P6-billion import terminal to be put up in Northern Mindanao is aimed at serving businesses in Mindanao and the wide array of industries that are likely to boom in the region.

Another project, Chua said, is the expansion of the Malampaya project. The second phase entails the drilling and development of two additional wells at a cost of $250 million while the third phase involves the installation of a new platform where additional equipment and facilities will be housed by 2015 at a cost of $750 million.

Malampaya, which began operating in 2001, is a joint undertaking of the Philippine government and the private sector. The project, spearheaded by the Department of Energy, is developed and operated by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. with a 45-percent stake on behalf of joint venture partners Chevron Malampaya LLC, also with a 45-percent stake, and the PNOC Exploration Corp. which holds the remaining 10 percent.

The third project is the planned LNG terminal whose exact completion date is yet to be announced. The project will have a capacity of up to 5,000 megawatts, more than the available capacities for the Luzon and Visayas grids combined.

LNG is natural gas that has been converted into liquid for ease of storage or transport.

Chua said the contract for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the planned LNG facility has already been awarded.

In July 2013, Shell decided to proceed with the FEED for the terminal, which is envisioned to be a floating storage and regasification unit in the country.

“The LNG (project) is still a work in progress,” Chua said, noting that there is no final investment decision yet given recent developments such as falling oil prices.

“We’ll have to review the timing (given the falling oil prices),” he said.