DoE to publish policy on natural gas at end- Oct.

THE Department of Energy (DoE) is set to publish on Oct. 30 its policy framework on natural gas, encompassing all phases of gas exploration, development and production, an official of the agency said.

“It’s almost done,” said DoE Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos, adding that he was the one who led the drafting of the policy.

He said the scope would cover the “upstream” resource development or the exploration phase, and “downstream” phase covering the delivery of natural gas near its end users. He said the policy recognizes three business models for the framework.

“[It’s for] publication on Oct. 30,” he said.

He said in all phases, the DoE would participate in regulation, permitting as well as giving its concurrence on liquefied natural gas (LNG)-related projects.

He said the first business model is similar to the one used by the Malampaya project, the offshore Palawan gas platform that delivers up to 20% of the country’s power needs. The gas find is expected to run out starting 2022-2024.

He said the business model covers gas discovery that needs to be received in a proposed Batangas natural gas terminal through a 500-kilometer pipeline that is commercially and economically viable.

Mr. Marcos said the second business model covers gas discoveries that are distant from the Batangas terminal. He said in this case, a liquefaction facility would be built at the exploration site itself to change natural gas into LNG to reduce its volume and for ease in transport.

Once LNG arrives at the terminal, it will be warmed to return it to its gaseous state and delivered to natural gas users.

Aside from the regasification facility, the terminal will have a storage facility and a gas-fired power plant with a capacity of between 200-800 megawatts, he said.

The third business model covers importation of LNG, which will also be received at the Batangas terminal.

“Every step of the way is a whole value chain of LNG,” Mr. Marcos said.

“DoE and Secretary (Alfonso G. Cusi are) on top of all those phases.”

Mr. Marcos said the Philippine National Oil Co. has its own “parallel procedure” but the DoE’s commercial arm should “harmonize” with the department’s natural gas policy, which he said would be issued through a department circular. —