First Gen shortlists 3 firms for Batangas FSRU project

MANILA, Philippines — Lopez-led First Gen Corp. has shortlisted three global firms to put up a floating storage and regassification unit (FSRU) in its Batangas liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, First Gen said its wholly-owned unit FGEN LNG Corp. selected BW Gas Limited, GasLog LNG Services Ltd., and Hoegh LNG Asia Pte Ltd. to participate in the tender process for the chartering of an FSRU.

BW Gas Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BW Group, and is involved in the global market of transportation and floating regasification services of LNG, including construction, ownership, and operation of FSRUs and other LNG carriers.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, GasLog LNG Services Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GasLog, which is among the largest independent LNG midstream companies in the world, with experience dealing with cargo types as diverse as LNG, oil, dry-bulk, and chemicals.

Hoegh LNG Asia Pte. Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hoegh LNG Ltd., which is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oslo stock exchange listed Hoegh LNG Holdings.

FGEN said the FSRU would provide LNG storage and regasification services in respect of FGEN LNG’s interim offshore LNG terminal that it is being developed at the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City.

The interim offshore LNG Terminal consists of construction works necessary to modify the existing liquid fuel jetty that will enable it to become multiple-use, and build an adjunct onshore gas receiving facility to receive and deliver gas to end-users.

“The project represents the initial phase of the FGEN Batangas LNG Terminal which was previously declared by the Energy Investment Coordinating Council through the Department of Energy (DOE) as an ‘Energy Project of National Significance’ under Executive Order 30,” First Gen said.

Last March, FGEN LNG submitted to the DOE an application for a permit to construct, expand, rehabilitate and modify (PCERM) the project.

Once completed, the interim offshore LNG terminal will utilize an FSRU that will be berthed at the multi-purpose jetty to store and re-gasify LNG for use when required.

FirstGen said the project would allow the group to accelerate its ability to introduce LNG to the Philippines as early as the third quarter of 2022.  It is intended to serve the natural gas requirements of existing and future gas-fired power plants of third parties and FGEN LNG affiliates.

“FGEN LNG believes that the project will play a critical role in ensuring the energy security of the Luzon grid and the Philippines. The existing indigenous Malampaya gas resource is expected to be less reliable in producing and providing sufficient fuel supply for the country’s existing gas-fired power plants, and even less so for additional gas-fired power plants,” it said.

The entry of LNG to supplement and eventually replace Malampaya gas will encourage new power plant developments, as well as industrial and transport industries, to consider it as a replacement to more costly and polluting fuels,” the firm said.

An FSRU is a LNG carrier that is capable of storing LNG and which has an onboard regasification plant capable of returning LNG into a gaseous state and then supplying it directly into the gas network.

First Gen said a typical FSRU has a storage capacity of between 125,000 cubic meters and 170,000 cubic meters.