AG&P investing Php14.6B for new Ilijan LNG facility

Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific Co. (AG&P) is investing Php14.6 billion for its proposed integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal to be located right next to the existing Ilijan Combined-Cycle Power Plant in Batangas City.

Based on the environmental impact statement (EIS) it submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), AG&P – through local arm Linseed Field Power Corporation – will secure a lease contract with Ilijan Primeline Holdings Inc. to develop the area.

The import terminal will serve the LNG demand requirements of the current 1,200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan  plant, its 850MW expansion, and future power projects of SMC Global Power Holdings (SMCGPH). Ilijan’s 850MW expansion is expected to begin operations in 2022.

SMCGPH, Luzon’s biggest and the country’s second-largest generating company, is the power generation arm of San Miguel Corporation (SMC).

At present, the Ilijan plant sources gas from the Malampaya gas field in Palawan, but the supply agreement is set to expire by July 2022. Ilijan currently supplies over ten percent of the 11,304MW power requirement of the Luzon Grid.

To meet the plant’s requirements, Linseed plans to construct an onshore regasification, storage, utilities and balance of plant, supplemented with a floating storage unit. The company is targeting to commence the facilities’ operations by June 2022, a month ahead of the Malampaya supply agreement’s expiration.

In a Senate hearing last month, Department of Energy (DOE) Asec. Leonido Pulido III said that the agency is reviewing AG&P’s notice to proceed (NTP) application for the new Ilijan project. He added that the DOE is also looking into the NTP applications of Shell Energy Philippines and Vires Energy Corporation for their respective LNG ventures.

Photo from SMC Global Power website.