SMC to bid for Malampaya banked gas

San Miguel Corp., the diversifying conglomerate, plans to bid for the banked Malampaya gas the government is in the process of selling.

SMC is also hoping to discover another Malampaya near the existing natural gas field in offshore Palawan when it bids for the landmark deepwater gas-to-power project.

Specifically, San Miguel president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said, the conglomerate is interested in the privatization of the Malampaya pipeline, which he sees as the deal of the century.

“For the banked gas and the pipeline, we will bid, because the pipeline, you just extend it and there might be another ( gas) fi eld,” Ang said.

It was in March when Ang said that San Miguel is bidding for the privatization of the Malampaya pipeline, estimated at $10 billion.

He said it would be one of the biggest projects that the government would bid out.

Shell Philippines Exporation B.V., Shell’s upstream energy development company leads the group that operates the Malampaya. The consortium’s contract ends in 2024, also the estimated depletion of gas from the field.

However, Ang said that even with the depletion of the gas, the infrastructure such as the platform and the pipeline remains interesting.

The Malampaya project powers three power plants in Luzon, accounting for about 40 percent of the grid’s requirements.

The banked gas, meanwhile, refers to unused Malampaya natural gas, more commonly known as banked gas.

The government, with the private sector, announced that it is selling the banked gas within the year with delivery to start in 2016.

The joint sellers are Spex, the Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. and PNOC, the government corporation tasked to develop the country’s oil resources.

“The quantity of gas available is up to 227.995 petajoules (GCV) and average daily quantity of up to 78.1 peta- joules (GCV) per day, available for deliver as of Jan. 1, 2016 and up to Feb. 23, 2024,” said the sellers which conducted last April a pre-bid conference for the sale.

At least 10 companies including San Miguel attended the pre-bid conference.