DOE proposes 2nd CNG 'daughter' station for transport sector

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to put up a second ‘daughter’ station for compressed natural gas (CNG) to further support the government’s Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT).

“We are coming up with a recommendation to put up a second daughter station. This will really help promote natural gas for 200 buses. Right now, there are only less than 100 buses running on CNG,” DOE assistant secretary Mario Marasigan said.

Based on initial studies, another daughter station is needed for the free flow of CNG to fuel CNG-run buses.

According to the DOE official, they have already identified several potential sites for the daughter station. “There are proposals to put it along the Batangas routes. Another proposal is in Turbina, Calamba, Laguna,” he said.

He said they are also coordinating with the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) for the construction of the Batangas-Manila gas pipeline.

Meanwhile, the CNG bus operators reiterated their concerns on the viability of the NGVPPT.

“We reiterate our uncertainties on the viability of the NGVPPT, but given our investments on the said project and the benefits not only to bus operators but ultimately the commuters, we have come up with suggestions for the completion and expansion of the NGVPPT,” the group said.

The bus operators said they have proposals on how these issues could be addressed and how the program would be implemented.

The NGVPPT was formally created with the signing and implementation of Executive Order 290 on February 2004.

The bus operators claimed government had since declared that 200 CNG buses will be plying the Batangas-Manila route by 2006 and there will be 2,000 CNG buses on the road, supported by 10 CNG refueling stations directly operational, all by 2007.

These alternative facilities will be tapping the allocated CNG supply for the 200 buses as part of the first phase, without jeopardizing the operations of the existing facilities of Shell.

The group said although Shell and Chevron have indicated willingness to give up the facilities, “no clever investor would want to manage facilities that are not technically feasible.”

Initial research and exploratory talks with the National Power Corp. revealed the possibility and feasibility of tapping its Ilijian power plant in Ilijan, Batangas City as the main source.

The group noted that the Ilijan power plant has an excess natural gas which they are free to dispose, as this has already been paid, enough to fuel the requirements for 2,000 buses.

An initial daughter station, they said, can be simultaneously built at the Philippine Ports Authority terminal inside the Port of Batangas, which is only less than 20 kilometers away from the Ilijan plant.

They also proposed that a second daughter station can then be built and also strategically located in any one of three possible areas: a site near the Mall of Asia or a site within the Public Estate Authority, both in Parañaque City, or a site inside the proposed Intermodal Terminal in Pasay City.

To level the playing field, they said the DOE should facilitate the entry of other participants for CNG refueling stations and seriously encourage other private and government power plants to sell their “banked gas and/or their excess natural gas” to these accredited CNG refueling stations