Tokyo Gas signs deal to join Philippines LNG project

Japan's Tokyo Gas signed a Joint Cooperation Agreement with First Gen to formally join its proposed liquefied natural gas floating storage and regasification unit project in Batangas City in the Philippines.

The two companies entered into a Joint Development Agreement on December 5, 2018, and have been developing an Interim Offshore LNG Terminal.

With the JCA, the parties will transition to the construction of a floating storage and regasification unit, with the aim of introducing LNG to the Philippines as early as in the second half of 2022.

Under the terms of the JCA, the two companies will jointly construct, operate and maintain the Interim Offshore LNG Terminal which includes converting the existing jetty into a multi-purpose jetty2 and constructing an adjunct onshore gas receiving facility. Tokyo Gas will take a 20 per cent participating interest in the construction and operation of the project.

The Department of Energy of the Republic of the Philippines granted a permit to construct the Interim Offshore LNG Terminal on September 23, 2020.

First Gen is a power generation company of the Lopez Group, which is one of the largest conglomerates in the Philippines, and is the largest natural gas consumer in the Philippines with approximately 60 per cent of the natural gas-fired power generation capacity in the country.