6 firms pre-qualify for joint sale of Malampaya banked gas

Six local and international energy companies have pre- qualified to bid for the joint sale of banked gas from the Malampaya gas field in northwest Palawan.

The sale of banked gas is expected to translate to a billion dollar in revenues for the government to be paid by the winning bidder in eight years.

“This is a billion dollar deal,” a source said.

The bidding may happen as early as September and the awarding of the winner in 2016.

Twelve companies have expressed interest in the banked gas, according to the source.

“Roughly half have pre-qualified,” the source said.

The companies that attended the April pre-conference activity include San Miguel Corp., First Gen Corp., Marubeni Corp., AES Corp., Vires Energy Corp. and Aboitiz Power, the source said.

In April, the government, with the private sector announced it is selling the unused Malampaya natural gas, more commonly known as banked gas within the year with delivery to start in 2016.

The joint sellers are Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (Spex), Philippine National Oil Co.- Exploration Corp. and PNOC.

In a notice published in early April, the joint sellers announced the commencement of a process of jointly tendering their respective gas volume entitlements under Service Contract 38.

“The quantity of gas available is up to 227.995 petajoules (GCV) and average daily quantity of up to 78.1 petajoules (GCV) per day, available for deliver as of Jan. 1, 2016 and up to Feb. 23, 2024,” the sellers said in the notice.

Spex is the operator of the Malampaya deep water to gas power project in offshore Palawan, where Spex and PNOC’s banked gas is stored.