LOPEZ-LED First Gen Corp. has picked three foreign firms to participate in a competitive selection process to provide storage and regasification service for its upcoming liquefied natural gas (LNG) import facility in Batangas.

The listed energy company on Thursday told the stock exchange that it chose on June 9 three bidders from which one will be later picked to lease a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for its FGEN Batangas LNG Terminal project.

The bidders are BW Gas Ltd. of global gas shipping company BW Group; New York-listed GasLog’s unit GasLog LNG Services Ltd.; and Hoegh LNG Asia Pte. Ltd., owned by the Norwegian LNG carrier provider Hoegh LNG Holdings.

First Gen has not indicated when the competitive selection process will commence.

The said facility is a carrier that is capable of storing LNG and returning it back to its gaseous state. A typical carrier can hold as much as 170,000 cubic meters of LNG.

First Gen is developing an interim LNG terminal at its Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City which will bring offshore natural gas supply to domestic power plants as early as the third quarter of 2022.

The project will modify its existing liquid fuel jetty to become multi-use and build an adjunct gas-receiving facility. Once completed, the terminal will utilize an FSRU.

The government’s Energy Investment Coordinating Council declared the gas terminal project by First Gen’s subsidiary FGEN LNG Corp. as an Energy Project of National Significance under Executive Order No. 30.

On March 4, the gas unit applied with the Department of Energy (DoE) for a permit to construct, expand, rehabilitate, and modify (PCERM) for the project. It has yet to receive its approval, as of late.

The Philippines has identified imported LNG as a substitute for its depleting sole indigenous gas source from the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project. It is yet to enter into LNG agreements with foreign suppliers.

Aside from First Gen, Vires Energy Corp., which was recently acquired by Cagayan de Oro-based A Brown Co., Inc. from Singaporean firm Agro Group Pte. Ltd., is also planning to build a floating storage and regasification facility to introduce LNG imports in the country. The DoE has yet to decide on its application for a notice to proceed for the project.

First Gen’s shares surged on Thursday by 6.28% to close at P23.70 each. — Adam J. Ang

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