Construction and engineering firm Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific International Holdings (AG&P) has completed the conversion of its 137,512-cubic meter ISH liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier into a floating storage unit (FSU) that will cater to its offshore LNG facility in Batangas.
Following that process, the company noted that the ISH LNG carrier will now be “ready to be docked at AG&P’s PHLNG (Philippines LNG Import Terminal) facility in Batangas.”
As explained, “the FSU is part of the combined offshore-onshore import terminal that will have an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum.”
The hybrid facility, according to AG&P, has been “designed to provide its customers with resiliency of supply and high availability, even during storms.”
The offshore LNG import facility of the company is targeting commercial operation by early part of 2023 – and it is seen to be first LNG project to reach completion.
Joseph Sigelman, chairman & CEO of AG&P Group, said the conversion of the ISH into FSU was undertaken in-house by its subsidiary Gas Entec, which has been making its niche as a market leader in the conversion of LNG carriers into floating terminals.
Taking off from that milestone, the AG&P chief executive emphasized that they can already “look forward to opening the PHLNG LNG regasification terminal in early 2023, bringing LNG for the first time to the Philippines.”
AG&P has inked a 15-year long-term charter agreement with UAE firm ADNOC Logistics and Services (ADNOC L&S) for the supply, operations, and maintenance of the FSU facility that will primarily underpin its Batangas LNG import terminal.
The anchor off-taker of gas from the AG&P LNG facility will be SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation of the San Miguel group, to be utilized by its existing 1,200MW Ilijan gas-fired power facility; as well as its expansion project of another 1,200MW that will reach commercial stream by 2024.
As designed, the FSU has the capacity to load LNG at a peak rate of 10,000 cbm/hr (cubic meter per hour) and a discharge-to-shore peak rate of 8,000 cbm/hr – and that was made possible with the modifications done by Gas Entec in its cargo handling and safety system, which then “allows for simultaneous loading and discharge of LNG.”
Karthik Sathyamoorthy, president of AG&P Terminals and Logistics, reiterated that “the PHLNG import terminal will store LNG and dispatch natural gas to power plants, industrial and commercial and other consumers.”
He added that “the construction for two onshore tanks as part of PHLNG’s second phase has already started, and will be integrated as part of the main terminal in 2024.”