Gov’t eyes 9 natural gas pipelines

MANILA, Philippines - Nine natural gas pipeline projects are targeted to be put in place in Luzon from 2017 to 2022, according to the government’s Philippine Energy Plan (PEP).

The proposed pipelines are deemed necessary for the development of the country’s natural gas industry.

These nine projects are the Batangas-Manila 1 (BatMan 1), BatMan 2, Bataan-Cavite (BatCave), Subic Pipeline, Clark Pipeline, Subic-Fort Bonifacio Pipeline, Sucat-Malaya, Sucat-Quirino lines and a city gas distribution network -- the EDSA-Taft Gas Pipeline, according to the PEP.

The BatMan 1 Project is considered the backbone infrastructure with an estimated distance of 105 kilometers and is a high-pressure gas transmission pipeline from Batangas to Sucat.

“It is expected to operate commercially by 2017. It will deliver the necessary gas requirements from the economic zones located along the route from Tabangao, Batangas to Sucat, Paranaque and the transport sector for the CNG-fuelled buses and taxes,” the PEP said.

The supply of natural gas for the BatMan 1 pipeline will come initially from the production of the Malampaya gas field and will be supplemented by LNG (liquefied natural gas) importation in 2020, the Energy department also said.

BatMan 2, on the other hand, is a 140 kilometer high pressure pipeline that will serve possible markets such as the Limay combined cycle power plant, which can be converted to natural gas-fired plant, and economic zones, notably Subic and Clark, including industries located along the route.

BatMan 2 is targeted to be in place by 2020.

BatMan 1 and BatMan 2 will be connected via another infrastructure project, which is the 40-kilometer undersea Bataan-Cavite and through the 35-kilometer Rosario, Cavite, Laguna (RoBin) line.

Four additional pipelines will be constructed, according to the PEP.

These are the 40-km Subic pipeline which will be linked with the proposed BatMan (2021); the 25-km Clark pipeline to start from BatMan 2 going to Clark (2022); the 35-km Sucat-Malaya pipeline (2017) which is an underwater high pressure gas transmission pipeline from Sucat, Paranaque to service the

Malaya Plant in Rizal, which is proposed to be converted into a natural gas plant; and the 15-km Sucat-Fort Bonifacio pipeline that will service the requirement of commercial establishments inside the Bonifacio Global City (2017).