Shell holds back on IPO this year
“There is still no decision on the IPO. For the year, an IPO is going to be tight, and also the stock market is not as good as it was before,” Shell country chairman Edgar Chua said at the sidelines of the formal launch of the commercial operations of the government’s compressed natural gas (CNG)-run buses project.
Shell earlier said it is anchoring its decision to proceed with the IPO or not on its planned refinery upgrade.
Chua admitted that recent developments in the downstream oil sector have “complicated” the release of their refinery upgrade study supposed to be scheduled this month.
He said one of the issues that need to be resolved is the ruling of the Supreme Court on Pandacan depot. It was earlier noted that the decision on the relocation of the Pandacan depot affect the refinery upgrade of Shell.
Organized by the Department of Energy (DOE), Shell and DOE-accredited bus operators, hundreds of Manila-bound commuters in Batangas and Laguna were able to avail of the “Libreng Sakay” onboard CNG-powered buses called “Pinoy CNG Bus”. Eleven buses of HM Bus Corp. and KL Bus Corp. participated in the free ride.
The “Libreng Sakay” program, which signaled the formal launch of the seven-year CNG pilot project of DOE-Shell, is a 10-day free bus ride project which covers the Batangas-Cubao and Laguna-Alabang-Fairview routes. Commuters pay P154 fare from Batangas to Cubao.
Designated Pinoy CNG bus stops for the Batangas-Cubao route include Batangas, Lipa, Tanauan and Sto. Tomas in Batangas; Turbina and Mamplasan in Laguna; selected bus stops along EDSA and Cubao.
For the Laguna-Alabang-Fairview route, bus stops include Calamba, Alabang, Fairview, Lawton, SM Mall of Asia and EDSA Pasay.
CNG is extracted from the Shell-operated Malampaya gas fields in offshore Palawan, transported via a pipeline to a mother station in Tabangao, Batangas where it is compressed and transported to the Binan refilling station.
The government has allowed Shell to put up the first CNG station being the pioneer in natural gas development in the country after the discovery and exploration of the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project in northwest Palawan.
Aside from HM and KL, the other DOE accredited bus operators are RRCG Transport, Pascual Liner Inc., Greenstar Express Inc., CNG Vehicles Corp., and BBl Transport Inc. The CNG-run buses will come from China, India and United Kingdom. The CNG fuel will be sold to 200 buses under the pilot-test period of seven years for P14.52 per liter, much cheaper than the current diesel price of P36 per liter.
To make the CNG project feasible, Chua urged the government to come up with a long-term regulatory framework for this sector.
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