MANILA, Philippines - MRC Allied Inc, the listed company that is now diversifying into energy, is looking at the possibility of expanding into the LNG sector, its top official said.
“Next year, we would like to go into LNG,” said MRC president and CEO Gladys Nalda.
LNG is natural gas that has been converted into liquid for ease of storage or transport.
Nalda said some potential investors from the Middle East have expressed interest in partnering with the company for an LNG terminal but she stressed that nothing is final yet.
If the plan proceeds, MRC may put up a terminal in its 700-hectare property in Leyte or in its 160-hectare lot in Cebu, which are both in close proximity to the ports, making these areas ideal for an LNG hub.
The LNG would come from the foreign partners.
“There are some who are interested but nothing is final yet,” she said.
MRC plans to become a major player in the Philippine power industry with a target to develop at least 1,000 megawatts (MW) of clean and renewable energy in the next five years.
The company would further increase this target capacity by continuously exploring new sources of clean energy, building new RE power plants and acquiring shovel-ready RE projects.
At present, the company has a combined 160MW solar power projects in the pipeline worth P8.8 billion.
These are in Naga City in Cebu (60 MW) and in Clark Green City in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga (100 MW).
The 60MW Naga project will supply either the Visayas grid or large power consumers within and around Southern Cebu while the 100MW-Clark project will provide power to Clark Development Corp. for the locators of Clark Green City and will be connected to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ transmission system.
For both projects, MRC Allied has room for expansion.
Targeted to commence operations by 2019, the Clark and Naga projects are expandable by 40MW and 60MW.
Nalda earlier said that once operational, the plants would enable MRC realize potential profit of P690 million starting 2019. The facility’s payback period is five to six years.
To fund its expansion into energy, MRC would raise funds. It earlier disclosed plans to raise around P1 billion from a private placement of shares.