Phinma Energy Corp. is still keen on building a receiving terminal for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Sual, Pangasinan, one of its officials said.
The company is currently studying the feasibility of putting up a 300-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant, as well as an import LNG terminal with a capacity of 400, 000 tons of LNG per annum.
The feasibility study began last year, but so far the project seems to be capital intensive and risky if the market is unstable, Phinma Energy senior vice president Raymundo A. Reyes, Jr. told reporters on Monday.
Even if Phinma releases a final investment decision, the earliest they can complete the project is by 2020, two years before the projected depletion of the Malampaya gas field.
“You also have to consider that (power plant) into the equation [because] you can import [but] if you don’t have any anchor load ’di mo rin mabebenta ’yung LNG mo (you won’t be able to sell your LNG),” Reyes said.
The project is slated to fall under Phinma’s subsidiary Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp.
Phinma is looking to construct the project on their own or as a majority stakeholder in a partnership. On the other hand, it seeks partners and is willing to take a minority interest, Reyes said.
He said that the current market for gas is less competitive than coal, because the Philippines currently has an oversupply of baseload power from coal-fired plants and has caused competition concentrated mainly in mid-merit capacity plants.
The Philippines’ energy mix requires 70 percent of baseload power, majority of which is provided by plants that run on coal, natural gas and geothermal power every day.
Only 20 percent is needed from mid-merit plants, which run mostly on natural gas. Peaking plants make up only 10 percent of the energy mix, which are oil-based facilities and renewable energy projects.