Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 36
P. 6
AsiaElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AsiaElec
JGC wins Philippines LNG contract
PHILIPPINES
PHILIPPINES power utility First Gen has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the Batangas liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to Japanese engineering outfit 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. The jetty is currently used to bring in liquid fuels for First Gen’s nearby dual-firing 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 field begin to dry up. The gas field, which fuels about 50% of Luzon’s power requirements, is projected to begin running dry from 2024.
Executive vice-president and COO Jonathan Russell said the conversion project, which would allow for imports via a floating storage regasifica- tion unit (FSRU) on an interim basis, was crucial to ensuring the continued operations of 3,200 MW of gas-fired capacity given Malampaya’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 benefits, 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 imme- diately 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 introduction 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] pro- ject to receive gas after its contract with Malam- paya ends in 2022.”
The 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.
Sakhalin-1 partners take decision on LNG plant
RUSSIA
RUSSIA’S Rosneft and its partners at the Sakha- lin-1 oil and gas venture have taken a decision on building an LNG export plant, the company’s head Igor Sechin has said.
Sakhalin-1 operates three oilfields off the east coast of Sakhalin Island that also contain sizeable but undeveloped gas resources. Rosneft is joined at the project by US major ExxonMobil, Japan’s Sodeco and India’s ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL).
“This year, shareholders made a decision to build our own LNG plant in De Kastri,” Sechin was quoted as saying at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in a company statement.
It is unclear whether the Rosneft head was referring to an official final investment decision (FID) having been taken.
De Kastri, a port on the shore of Khabarovsk on the Russian mainland, is already the site of an export terminal for Sakhalin-1’s oil. According to Sechin, the single-train LNG terminal would have a 6.2mn tonne per year (tpy) capacity and could supply super-chilled gas to Japan.
“Its products will be much in demand in Japan due to the geographical proximity of the two countries,” he said.
Rosneft has long sought to establish itself as an LNG producer, joining its domestic com- petitors Gazprom and Novatek, the respective operators of the Yamal LNG and Sakhalin-2 liq- uefaction terminals.
The Sakhalin-1 partners have discussed the development of their own plant for years, but progress stalled amid concerns that there was not enough gas to make the plan feasible. Ros- neft also looked at selling Sakhalin-1’s gas to Gazprom instead, to support a third Sakhalin-2 train, but the pair were unable to agree on a price for supplies.
Early designs for the De Kastri plant were completed last year, and Exxon’s Sakhalin subsidiary Exxon Neftegaz estimates its cost at $6.9bn. A further $1.6bn in upstream and $1.3bn in midstream investments would also be required.
P6
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 36 10•September•2019
