MVP confirms interest in Malampaya

MANILA, Philippines — Business tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan has confirmed his interest in acquiring the Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX)’s stake in the Malampaya project, through PXP Energy Corp.

“We’re looking at it,” Pangilinan, who is the chairman of PXP, said in a virtual briefing with reporters.

“We’ve been talking to JP Morgan who’s advising Shell on the sale of their share in Malampaya,” he said.

In September, SPEX announced that it is exploring options to divest its interest in the Malampaya deep-water gas-to-power project as part of its portfolio rationalization efforts.

The STAR reported earlier that the MVP Group is looking at the Malampaya project as part of its long-term vision.

Pangilinan bared plans of potentially integrating the Malampaya facility to service contract (SC) 72 if exploratory efforts in the latter are successful.

“The plan, assuming that we’re allowed by whoever owns Malampaya eventually, is to pipe the gas from SC 72 to the Malampaya facility so that they can process the gas. After processing, pipe the gas to Batangas, where as of now, all of the gas plants are located,” Pangilinan said.

SC 72 is located in the West Philippine Sea, west of Palawan and southwest of the Malampaya facility.

Earlier this month, the government lifted the exploration moratorium in the West Philippine Sea.

The Department of Energy said it had issued resume-to-work notices to service contractors for the areas of SC 72, 59 and 75.

Moreover, Pangilinan also affirmed interest in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, emphasizing that this is something the group should look at.

“Particularly if we’re successful in SC 72, and if we’re fortunate to buy the Shell stake in Malampaya, then we’re in the gas business,” Pangilinan said.

“I think the group should take a look at that business,” he added, emphasizing that nothing is definite at the moment.

Apart from PXP, San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang also expressed interest in acquiring SPEX’s Malampaya stake.

In March, Dennis Uy-led Udenna Corp. completed its acquisition of Chevron Philippines Ltd.’s 45 percent stake in the Malampaya project.

With the acquisition, Udenna became SPEX’s joint venture partner for the Malampaya project along with government partner Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. SPEX has a 45 percent stake while PNOC-EC has a 10 percent stake in the project.