By Myrna M. Velasco
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) may backpedal on its targeted joint venture with a company of businessman Dennis Uy on planned US$2.0-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in Batangas, a highly placed energy official has hinted.
The source tipped off that the Chinese firm seems “ghosting” the Tanglawan Philippine LNG Inc. partnership earlier targeted not just with Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. but also of state-run Philippine National Oil Company.
The energy official added that there had not been recent communications or representations that CNOOC had done with Philippine government – and all forms of correspondence relative to the US$2.0- billion projects on LNG import terminal and power plants are just currently done by Phoenix Petroleum.
There had also been mixed assertions as to the status of the CNOOC-Phoenix Petroleum tie-up; with Phoenix stating in a recent disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) that “the joint venture agreement has yet to be finalized.”
But with President Rodrigo Duterte’s ongoing state visit to China, hopes are being raised that CNOOC’s interest may still be resuscitated, given the fact that it is a Chinese state-owned company and has been getting cue from its government on investment decisions.
The Tanglawan LNG projects had been recently granted six-month extension on its notice-to-proceed (NTP), or the document from the Department of Energy (DOE) that serves as a permit for the company to move forward into implementing its proposed projects.
With the extended NTP, the energy department indicated that it is expecting milestones such as final investment decision (FID) and the certainty of having financing for the venture.
Separately, Energy Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III had apprised media that the “required project milestones” will be uniformly applied to all LNG project-proponents that were accorded with NTPs.
DOE Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos further noted that the NTP extension was granted last month and may stretch until January next year – basically the reckoning date is based on when the extension was formally issued to the project-proponent.
The energy official qualified that application for NTP extension is warranted under the Philippine Natural Gas Industry Regulation that was previously issued by the energy department.
“It will be for another six months,” Marcos has emphasized; and that timeline may expire by January next year.
In the blueprint of projects submitted by Tanglawan to the DOE, it is targeting to put up 2.3 million tons per annum of LNG import terminal that shall reach commercial operation by end-2023. That installation will likewise be integrated with a power plant project having capacity ranging from 800 to 1,000 megawatts.
In an earlier disclosure, Phoenix Petroleum indicated that groundbreaking rites for the planned LNG facilities will be by year-end at its propounded project site in Batangas.