Vires Energy Corp. is set to formalize its plan to put up a liquefied natural gas project in Batangas through the filing of a notice to proceed with the Department of Energy.
“Vires wrote that they will apply,” Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos said. Vires earlier applied for a pre-application conference with the agency.
Marcos said the NTP application of First Gen Corp. and Excelerate Energy L.P., a US-based LNG company in The Woodlands, Texas, however, were still pending with DoE.
Vires earlier expressed interest to develop an LNG costing $750 million in Batangas City.
Vires president Eduardo Mañalac earlier said the company was also in talks with possible partners. He declined to disclose details.
“There are many possible partners but I will announce later on,” Mañalac said.
Vires plans to put up a 500-megawatt LNG power plant and LNG receiving terminal in Barangay Simlong, Batangas City.
Vires has received approval to conduct a grid impact study on the proposed LNG power project.
The company contracted Waller Marine Inc. of Houston, Texas in 2016 to produce the front end engineering design for a 400-megawatt floating power plant.
Vires signed technology license agreements with Sevan Marine’s subsidiary, HiLoad LNG AS, for an LNG receiving and re-gasification terminal in the Philippines.
It also signed a separate engineering service contract with HiLoad LNG that will provide design and engineering work. Payment under the license agreement is subject to Vires constructing and operating the re-gasification terminal.
Sevan Marine acquired the rights to the proprietary HiLoad technology for gas and LNG applications, and has developed solutions for offshore loading of LNG and LNG receiving and re-gasification terminals.