First Gen picks FSRU provider next week

MANILA, Philippines — FGEN LNG Corp. is targeting to select a floating storage and regassification unit (FSRU) provider by the end of the month after it trimmed its list down to two.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), First Gen Corp. said its wholly owned unit FGEN LNG has completed the evaluation of submitted proposals for the charter of a FSRU for the Interim Offshore LNG Terminal that will be built at the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City.

From three in December, FGEN LNG has selected two preferred tenderers to continue to the final stage of its binding tender process.

“The two preferred tenderers, BW Gas Limited and Hoegh LNG Asia Pte Ltd., have been informed that FGEN LNG intends to select the FSRU provider by the end of March 2021,” the company said.

BW Gas Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the BW Group involved in the global market of transportation and floating regasification services of LNG, including construction, ownership, and operation of FSRUs and other LNG carriers.

Hoegh LNG Asia Pte. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hoegh LNG Limited, which is itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Oslo stock exchange listed Hoegh LNG Holdings. Hoegh LNG Holdings specializes in the global market of transportation and floating regasification services of LNG.

In January, First Gen said construction of the interim LNG terminal is slated to commence in March after notice to proceed was issued to engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor McConnell Dowell, which was hired in November last year.

Under the contracts, McConnell Dowell will undertake the EPC of both the multiple purpose jetty and onshore gas receiving facility.

The selected EPC contractor built First Gen’s existing liquid fuel jetty in 1998, which will be permanently modified with the new multiple purpose jetty.

The Interim Offshore LNG Terminal consists of construction works necessary to modify the existing liquid fuel jetty that will enable it to become multiple-use, and build an adjunct onshore gas receiving facility to receive and deliver gas to end-users.

The interim project will allow FGEN LNG to accelerate its ability to introduce LNG to the Philippines as early as third quarter of 2022, to serve the natural gas requirements of existing and future gas-fired power plants of third parties and FGEN LNG affiliates.

A FSRU is a liquefied natural gas carrier (LNGC) that can store LNG and which has an onboard regasification plant capable of returning LNG into a gaseous state and then supplying it directly into the gas network.