Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) eyes converting its 19.2-hectare property in Batangas into a dedicated integration port to be in service for offshore wind developments in neighboring service contract areas, said PNOC President Oliver Butalid.
In a report by BusinessMirror, Butalid said that the plan is part of the agency’s 5 “high-impact initiatives” for 2024.
The strategically-located port situated in the municipality of Mabini is expected to take two years to redevelop, in line with the first offshore wind turbine launch by 2026.
Butalid said that they intend to be a key player in an overlooked potential market in the energy industry and aim to pursue being a niche player focusing on projects that lead to long-term energy supply in the country.
Apart from the conversion of the Batangas property, PNOC also looks to “strongly promote” its Bataan industrial park as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.
The recently launched Batangas LNG import terminal by Linseed Field Power Corp., currently supplies LNG to the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas. Meanwhile, the LNG facility by FGEN LNG Corp. is targeting to commence the commercial operations of its interim offshore LNG terminal project in October.
PNOC noted that having an LNG terminal in Bataan will improve access to the fuel source and at the same time, provide energy security.
Butalid noted that the company is eager to become an energy aggregator to provide services and meet the increasing demand of government agencies since private energy service companies (ESCos) have not been enthusiastic about this matter due to collection-related risk.
Also included in the five high-impact initiatives by PNOC is supporting the National Power Corp.-Small Power Utilities Group (NPC-SPUG) in reducing the cost of power generation by hybridizing off-grid areas such as installing solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in various areas by 2025.
The rollout of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations along the highways, particularly those that lead to top tourist-visited areas is also on the priority list of PNOC.
PNOC proposed a PHP 2.209 billion budget for 2024, of which PHP 1.432 billion of it would be for onsite solar PV for government entities and its planned logistics port in Batangas. On the other hand, 25% of the budget will be allotted for operating expenses and another 10% for personnel services.