PNOC seeks Asean partners for LNG terminal in Bataan

State-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has invited national oil companies (NOCs) from the ASEAN region to join in the construction of the LNG (liquefied petroleum gas)  receiving terminal in Bataan, a top company official disclosed over the weekend.

PNOC president  Pedro Aquino Jr. said the invitation to PNOC counterparts in the ASEAN was extended by the Philippine government during the recent Regional Oil Company Leadership round table held in Jiangsu, China.

In his report to Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla on the result of the said meeting, Aquino said that aside from the LNG terminal, PNOC also invited potential investors for the construction of the Batman (Batangas-Manila) I and Batman II Natural Gas Pipeline projects.

Batman I is a priority energy sector project of the government and has been declared by the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) as a  project of national significance. EC secured the Environmental Compliance Certificate or ECC for the project in March 2004.

PNOC’s subsidiary, PNOC-EC, began early 2003 the process of acquiring rights-of-way for the project to maximize the use of government properties in designing the pipeline route.

It has also obtained the support of other concerned government agencies and private entities such as the Toll Regulatory Board, Philippine National Construction Corp., STAR Infrastructure Development Corp. and the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The pipeline system aims to extend the use of Malampaya natural gas to potential users in the industrial, commercial, transport and residential sectors.

The round table was organized by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and was attended by CEOs of Petroleum Brunei, Cambodia Nation Petroleum (CNP), Pertamina of Indonesia, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Singapore Petroleum Corp. (SPC), Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT), Petro Vietnam, Korean National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and JOGMEC of Japan.