Page 5 - AsianOil Week 35

AsianOil
SOUTH ASIA AsianOil
A fourth OALP round was launched last week, with the Directorate General of Hydro- carbons (DGH) revealing on August 27 that it was o ering seven new exploration acreages that would be awarded based on a new set of criteria that favoured investment commitments over pro t sharing with the government.
The government is anxious to boost investment in the upstream, as the majority of the country’s fields are mature and pro- duction is declining.
India’s oil output during the rst four months of 2019-2020 shrank by 6.22% to 10.98mn tonnes (660,000 bpd), while gas production in the April-July period edged down to 10.75 bcm from 10.78 bcm a year earlier.
In order to meet its spending commitments, the company has begun looking at the interna- tional debt market, saying on August 29 that it intended to raise up to $2bn via a Euro Medium Term Note (EMTN) programme that will be listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The programme allows ONGC or its subsidiaries to tap the market as many times as they need within a one-year period, requiring as little notice as ve days.
e company said the funds could be used either to help repay INR150bn ($2.08bn) of existing debt, fund acquisitions or finance existing operations. The company’s overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), had INR420bn ($5.81bn) of outstanding debt as of June 30.™
SOUTHEAST ASIA
JGC wins EPC contract for Philippine LNG project
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
PHILIPPINE power utility First Gen has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Batangas lique ed natural gas (LNG) project to Japanese engineering out t JGC.
JGC will look at modifying an existing jetty in Batangas City’s First Gen Clean Energy Com- plex (FGCEC) so that it can also receive large and small-scale LNG vessels. e jetty is currently used to bring in liquid fuels for First Gen’s nearby dual- ring power plants and the study will look to maintain this functionality.
First Gen, in partnership with Tokyo Gas, is building the $1bn terminal in order to ensure a continuous supply of feedstock for its power plants once supplies from the giant Malampaya gas eld begin to dry up. e gas eld, which fuels about 50% of Luzon’s power requirements, is projected to begin running dry from 2024.
Executive vice-president and COO Jona- than Russell said the conversion project, which would allow for imports via a oating storage regasi cation unit (FSRU) on an interim basis, was crucial to ensuring the continued operations of 3,200 MW of gas- red capacity given Malam- paya’s maturation. He added that imports could begin “during the term of President [Rodrigo] Duterte”, which ends in June 2022.
Russel said launching LNG imports ahead of Malampaya’s anticipated decline would have several bene ts, including reducing the amount of liquid fuels the company would have to burn at its dual-firing 1,000-MW Santa Rita, 500-MW San Lorenzo and 97-MW Avion power plants.
He added: “The early introduction of LNG by [First Gen] would also enable LNG to immediately become a fuel choice for any developer that is considering the building of new gas-fired power plants with a lower carbon footprint that will support introduc- tion of more intermittent renewables for the Philippines as an alternative to building new coal-fired power plants and also offer a potential means for the Ilijan [power] project to receive gas after its contract with Malampaya ends in 2022.”
e award wraps up an EPC tendering phase that began in 2014 and which drew expressions of interest (EoIs) from 18 companies.
The government declared in August that the proposed terminal was an Energy Project of National Significance (EPNS), as it would require the development of significant infra- structure that would have a positive impact on the environment.™
Week 35 04•September•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P5