Malampaya group urged to provide more gas to support Luzon grid
The Philippine Star
07/07/2006
The government is urging the Malampaya consortium to provide additional natural gas volume that could support a 300-500 megawatt (MW) new capacity needed for the Luzon grid in the next four years, the country’s top energy official said.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said the Department of Energy (DOE) is currently in discussions with the Malampaya natural gas project operators composed of Shell Petroleum Exploration B.V., Chevron Texaco and PNOC-Exploration Corp.
"We have discussed the additional power requirements for natural gas that would be needed for power in the next few years. We’re looking at enough natural gas supply to support an additional 300 to 500 MW," Lotilla said.
DOE data showed that the Philippines will need an additional 4,438 MW in new capacity additions in the next five years to meet the projected demand for power.
Projected system peak demand in the country is expected to increase from 9,827 MW in 2005 to 14,265 MW in 2010 and 19,064 MW in 2014. The projected average annual growth rate for peak demand was placed at 7.6 percent over the next 10 years.
Based on the DOE data, the projected peak demand forecasts will require a total of 9,228 MW of new capacity additions in the next 10 years. For Luzon, 7,200 MW indicative capacities are needed to fill up the demand starting 2008.
The data also indicated that of the new capacity additions required, 578 MW will come from committed projects while the remaining 8,650 MW are indicative capacity additions identified as baseload, midrange and peaking plants.
Lotilla said the government sees the importance of preparing for these power demands in the future.
"On the government side, we are stressing the need for making the additional natural gas supply available and the investments are necessary to make that additional volume available in time for the critical period in Luzon," he said.
The energy chief, however, assured that these issues are currently being addressed by the government.
"Our expectations are that those responsibilities form part of the service contract. The investments to be made would have to be determined at the technical levels, but discussions and exchanges are taking place on the natural gas requirements," he said.
The Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project supplies natural gas to three gas-fired power facilities in Luzon namely: the 1,500-MW Ilijan operated by the National Power Corp. and Korea Electric Co.; 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo by First Gas Corp. (FGC). First Gen Corp., the owner of FGC, plans to put up an additional 300-MW gas-fired facility (San Gabriel) near its existing two power plants in Batangas.
Lotilla pointed out that though the need to put up additional capacity in Luzon will be pushed back a little bit, they need to ensure that the natural gas would be there if needed.
"Our natural gas requirements for the critical period around 2010 but can be deferred to 2011 due to the peaking requirements. It was initially targeted for 2008, but due to the power development plan, we had to make some adjustments, but it does not mean there would be no requirements even before that, because in the past, we have had thinning reserves like when typhoon Caloy hit Ilijan, it resulted in damage to the main transformer and is under-going repair for almost a month. These are the things we are attending to right now, he said."
For his part, Shell country chairman Edgar O. Chua said they are recognizing the government’s effort to address the need to increase capacity due to the continuing rise in power demand.
"It is something we are looking at, and is something we have yet to finalize. In fact, we have that assignment to the DOE and so we have to get back to them for this," Chua said.
07/07/2006
The government is urging the Malampaya consortium to provide additional natural gas volume that could support a 300-500 megawatt (MW) new capacity needed for the Luzon grid in the next four years, the country’s top energy official said.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said the Department of Energy (DOE) is currently in discussions with the Malampaya natural gas project operators composed of Shell Petroleum Exploration B.V., Chevron Texaco and PNOC-Exploration Corp.
"We have discussed the additional power requirements for natural gas that would be needed for power in the next few years. We’re looking at enough natural gas supply to support an additional 300 to 500 MW," Lotilla said.
DOE data showed that the Philippines will need an additional 4,438 MW in new capacity additions in the next five years to meet the projected demand for power.
Projected system peak demand in the country is expected to increase from 9,827 MW in 2005 to 14,265 MW in 2010 and 19,064 MW in 2014. The projected average annual growth rate for peak demand was placed at 7.6 percent over the next 10 years.
Based on the DOE data, the projected peak demand forecasts will require a total of 9,228 MW of new capacity additions in the next 10 years. For Luzon, 7,200 MW indicative capacities are needed to fill up the demand starting 2008.
The data also indicated that of the new capacity additions required, 578 MW will come from committed projects while the remaining 8,650 MW are indicative capacity additions identified as baseload, midrange and peaking plants.
Lotilla said the government sees the importance of preparing for these power demands in the future.
"On the government side, we are stressing the need for making the additional natural gas supply available and the investments are necessary to make that additional volume available in time for the critical period in Luzon," he said.
The energy chief, however, assured that these issues are currently being addressed by the government.
"Our expectations are that those responsibilities form part of the service contract. The investments to be made would have to be determined at the technical levels, but discussions and exchanges are taking place on the natural gas requirements," he said.
The Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project supplies natural gas to three gas-fired power facilities in Luzon namely: the 1,500-MW Ilijan operated by the National Power Corp. and Korea Electric Co.; 1,000-MW Sta. Rita and 500-MW San Lorenzo by First Gas Corp. (FGC). First Gen Corp., the owner of FGC, plans to put up an additional 300-MW gas-fired facility (San Gabriel) near its existing two power plants in Batangas.
Lotilla pointed out that though the need to put up additional capacity in Luzon will be pushed back a little bit, they need to ensure that the natural gas would be there if needed.
"Our natural gas requirements for the critical period around 2010 but can be deferred to 2011 due to the peaking requirements. It was initially targeted for 2008, but due to the power development plan, we had to make some adjustments, but it does not mean there would be no requirements even before that, because in the past, we have had thinning reserves like when typhoon Caloy hit Ilijan, it resulted in damage to the main transformer and is under-going repair for almost a month. These are the things we are attending to right now, he said."
For his part, Shell country chairman Edgar O. Chua said they are recognizing the government’s effort to address the need to increase capacity due to the continuing rise in power demand.
"It is something we are looking at, and is something we have yet to finalize. In fact, we have that assignment to the DOE and so we have to get back to them for this," Chua said.
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