SMC may venture into LNG

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel Corp. (SMC), the country’s biggest power producer, may also join the LNG bandwagon if the market grows and prices become viable, its top official said.

SMC president and COO Ramon Ang said its 1,200-megawatt Ilijan natural gas power plant in Batangas is ready to be expanded into an LNG facility.

SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., through its subsidiary South Premiere Power Corp., is the independent power producer-administrator of the output of Ilijan. 

Asked if SMC would venture into liquefied natural gas, Ang said the power plant is LNG-ready.

 “We are ready.  We can easily make it to 3,000 megawatts. It is very easy. We will just add three lines at 600 megawatts each. I’ve already secured around 80 hectares in the nearby areas,” Ang said on the sidelines of Eagle Cement Corp.’s annual shareholders meeting.

However, he said SMC would have to wait first for the market to become more viable for LNG. 

“The problem of LNG is that it still expensive but we are ready. Ilijan is LNG-ready,” Ang said.

He said that if there is a strong demand and prices go down, SMC can likewise venture into LNG as what other energy players are doing now. 

LNG is natural gas that has been converted into liquid for ease of storage or transport. 

The Malampaya deep water gas to power facility in offshore Palawan fuels up to 40 percent of the power requirements of Luzon, but its gas is expected to be depleted by 2022.

Thus, many power players are preparing to shift to LNG. 

Last month, for instance, Lopez-led First Gen Corp. and its Japanese partner Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. broke ground for its LNGterminal project also in Batangas.

Taipan Lucio Tan is also joining the LNG bandwagon and is planning to put up a 1,000-megawatt LNG facility in Batangas together with a foreign partner, in a move that would make the Tan group a major power player in the country.

Tan has partnered with a foreign company for the planned facility which would have a regasification plant and an LNG terminal.

Gerardo Tee, head of distillery operations of the Lucio Tan Group of Companies and chief operating officer of Absolut Distillers Inc., said the group wants to utilize its Pinamucan property in Batangas as a possible site for an LNG power plant.

The group has already incorporated a new energy company, LCT Evergreen and Resources Inc., for the project.