South Korea's SK Plans Philippines LNG Infrastructure
South Korea's SK E&S signed June 5 a letter of intent (LoI) with the Philippines government for construction of LNG infrastructure worth $1.7bn in the country, it said June 7.
The South Korean company presented a blueprint to the Philippines government for the construction of an LNG terminal with the capacity of up to 5mn mt/yr, several LNG power plants of more than 600 MW, and an up to 150 km long pipeline connecting the terminal and power plants in Luzon Island, north of the Philippines.
The Philippines has entirely relied on the Malampaya offshore gas field as its only supply source for natural gas. However, the Malampaya gas reserves are expected to be depleted by 2024 and the growing demand for electricity underscores the strong needs for LNG imports. According to country’s energy department, power demand will grow by an annual rate of 5.6% by 2040, while the demand for LNG will experience an annual growth rate of 1.7%, mainly from gas power plants.
"If the LNG infrastructure development project SK E&S proposed is realised, the project is expected to create 800,000 jobs per year, or 2,200 jobs per day during the construction," a spokesperson for SK E&S said.
Earlier this week, South Korean president Moon Jae-in met up with Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte to discuss cooperation in several areas. The Korean ministry of trade, industry and energy and the Philippines department of energy signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the energy sector. The construction of the LNG infrastructure in the Philippines under the LoI is one of three major projects included in the MoU for mutual energy cooperation, SK E&S said.
"SK E&S is a global energy company running a business across LNG value chain from upstream to downstream sectors. We hope to have an opportunity to contribute to the development of the Philippine's energy industry based on our vast experiences and technological prowess in the LNG business," the SK E&S spokesperson said.
This comes couple of days after China's Cnooc signed a MoU with Philippines’ independent oil and gas company, Phoenix Petroleum, to develop an LNG import terminal in the country.