Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), the power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), aims to expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) sourcing as its 2,500-megawatt (MW) gas facilities near full operation.

In an ambush interview with MGen President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Emmanuel Rubio, he said that they are eyeing more trading partners to help source LNG beyond their current deal with Vitol Asia Pte. Ltd. and Shell.

According to Rubio, the sourcing of LNG is done through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“We have a 10-year contract with Shell and Vitol… But we have not limited ourselves to the spot sale [with] just these two. By the end of the year, hopefully earlier, we probably would have 15 trading candidates so that we can play all of them,” Rubio told reporters.

The MGen chief also specified that MGen is expecting the 2,500-MW gas capacity to be available.

“We still don’t have the power for the third unit, but it’s fully operational, and then by the end of this month, the first onshore storage will be completed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has yet to finalize its evaluation of the two plants—Ilijan power plant and Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI).

To recall, the ERC mentioned its plans to review the $3.3-billion (approximately ₱166-billion) deal between Meralco’s MGen, Aboitiz Power Corp.’s Therma Natgas Power Inc., and San Miguel Corp.’s San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP).

“Our review on the Ilijan and Excellent Energy power supply agreements (PSAs) is in relation to the potential violation of the bilateral contracting limits. We need to know who controls those plants, so that if it’s Meralco, through MGen, that controls them, we need to test whether they would be breaching the 50 percent limit,” ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta told reporters in a separate ambush interview.

The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) previously approved the joint acquisition of the three power giants, subject to conditions to ensure fairness and transparency in the market.

Through Chromite Gas Holdings Inc., MGen and Therma have a 67-percent stake in South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC), EERI, and the Ilijan power plants.

They have also partnered with SMGP to buy out Linseed Field Corp. (LFC).

Last month, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) and EERI natural gas plants had implemented a temporary shutdown of their operations to make way for mechanical works at LFC’s LNG terminal, as part of the process to complete the onshore LNG storage tank.