Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. of Japan has expressed interest in the country’s liquefied natural gas industry, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Friday.
Cusi reporters Tokyo Gas was keen on the government’s plan to put up an LNG facility in Batangas through state-owned Philippine National Oil Co.
“Tokyo Gas, they are interested,” Cusi said. Tokyo Gas is the main provider of gas in key cities in Japan.
“PNOC is studying putting up LNG receiving stations in Batangas. That’s where these Japanese investors are looking at,” he said.
Tokyo Gas plans to expand its operations and has recently signed an agreement with Centrica LNG Co. Ltd., the trading company of Centrica plc, the largest energy supplier in Europe.
The move will link Tokyo Gas to an LNG value chain in Asia, North America and Europe.
Cusi recently visited Japan and has has asked PNOC to conduct a study on the feasibility of putting up an LNG terminal and power plant in Batangas.
“As an emerging LNG market in Asia, my country, the Philippines can take advantage of the current period of oversupply and the relatively low prices of LNG,” said Cusi.
He noted that the Philippines only had Malampaya gas field supplying 98 percent of of the fuel requirements of five natural gas plants in Batangas, namely Ilijan, Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo, San Gabriel and Avion with a total installed capacity of 3,211 megawatts.
Cusi invited Japanese investors to look at natural gas project prospects in the Philippines.
“LNG can provide the demand from baseload, mid-merit and peaking requirements and can compete with other fuel sources that can address the least-cost optimal electricity from such demand centers,” he said.