First Gen open to LNG partnership with PNOC

First Gen Corp. of the Lopez Group is still open to partnering with Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) even as it pushes through with its own liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, a company official said.

First Gen vice president Jerome Cainglet said the company would look at PNOC’s bid to find a partner through a solicited scheme.

“As far as we’re concerned, there are efforts to get the LNG development going, if we can participate, why not,” Cainglet said.

Last month, PNOC rejected all unsolicited proposals for its LNG terminal and resorted to solicited offers.

Cainglet said First Gen’s $1-billion onshore storage and regasification terminal remains on track and is also open to other parties interested to partner with them.

“We’re still working on the project. We need to complete requirements. We’ve always stated that, for our LNG project, were open to partnerships,” he said.

“Right now, we’re doing it on our own, but it doesn’t mean that by the time we submit a proposal to the Department of Energy we may or may not have a partner or partners,” he said.

The First Gen official said they are in talks with a number of interested parties for potential partnership.

Moreover, the Lopez company is currently in the middle of tendering the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

“We want to put ourselves in the position to be able to actually issue a notice to proceed if and when the time comes,” Cainglet said.

The DOE is accepting letters of intent (LOI) from companies interested to build the LNG terminal under the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Regulation (PDNGR), which details the rules and regulations governing the downstream natural gas industry to develop a market and gain energy security and sustainability.

After submitting LOI, interested companies will have to submit formal proposals to the agency.