Philippines urged to develop LNG terminal

SINGAPORE - The Philippines must start developing the critical liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to be able to spur demand and ensure energy security in the future, according to energy think tank IHS.

In a study session with reporters, IHS research director and advisor Tony Taylor said infrastructure is the main challenge of the Philippines to spur LNG demand.

“For the Philippines, the challenge really is infrastructure of pipelines. You are still limited to what you got in the three power stations,” he said, referring to the San Lorenzo, Sta. Rita and Ilijan natural gas-fired power plants in Batangas.

“For years, they have been looking at connecting the pipelines to Manila,” he said.

There have been talks of putting up an LNG pipeline to connect Batangas and Manila but nothing has come to a fruition.

The Philippine government opted to take out the bidding of the Batangas-Manila LNG pipeline in its list of public-private partnership projects which should be auctioned before the end of the Aquino administration.

The Department of Energy is eyeing other options to implement the project due to off-taker concerns.

Taylor said putting up an LNG terminal would be costly without the pipeline but it has to happen.

“Different companies have looked at that (pipeline) and until you get that, you cannot replicate what they did in Singapore,” he said.