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The Philippine Export Zone Authority is looking at an LNG-based industry to support industrial processes like food processing, plastics and chemical manufacturing, and glass production, according to PEZA director general Tereso Panga
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PEZA has been pushing for LNG as the safer, cleaner alternative fuel to transition the ecozones to an eco-industrial park model for business continuity considerations, he said
The Philippine Export Zone Authority (PEZA) is looking at a liquefied natural gas-based industry to support industrial processes like food processing, plastics and chemical manufacturing, and glass production which use LNG as a heating and drying source, according to PEZA director general Tereso Panga in a Facebook post.
He recalled an engagement with Shell-UK Sustainability Group, which conducted a feasibility study for the establishment of a trigeneration facility at the Cavite Economic Zone (CEZ) in 2019. The objective was to provide for an embedded power generation, district heating and cooling system for CEZ locators. The project did not push through due to high LNG production and delivery cost at that time.
Even then, Panga said PEZA was already pushing for LNG as the safer and cleaner alternative fuel to transition the ecozones to an eco-industrial park model and for “business continuity” considerations.
Shell offered to use LPG, not LNG, as a feedstock for trigeneration but the proposal was deemed too risky due to its being a significant fire hazard.
With pricing no longer an issue, the Philippine National Oil Company has engaged with the likes of Indonesia’s Pertamina and Malaysia’s Petronas for proposed LNG-powered generation facilities in off-grid islands in the Visayas and Mindanao, Panga said.
Local LNG producers such as FGEN LNG Corp, AG&P, and SMC have been invited to participate in the shift to liquefied natural gas to supply the production requirements of ecozone locators.
In the Mactan Economic Zone, the application of Cebu-based Topline Energy and its partner, US-based Excelerate Energy for an LNG infrastructure has been facilitated, Panga said, hopefully paving the way for the establishment of the first trigeneration facility in the country.
Among ASEAN 6, the Philippines has lagged behind in investments and production capacity for oil and gas (at 0.7% to GDP) compared to Vietnam (10%), Indonesia (12%) and Malaysia (20%).
With the reported rich deposits of oil and gas reserves in Mindanao and within the country’s exclusive economic zone, marine hydrocarbon resources can be tapped for the Philippines’ energy, transport and industrialization requirements, Panga noted.
The Philippines can therefore be self-sufficient and self-sustaining as an LNG-based industry can be created, capitalizing on the country’s indigenous oil and gas resources to accelerate economic growth, he said.
This, he added, is the objective of RA 12120 (Natural Gas Industry Development Act), recently signed by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., in establishing a sustainable, secure and self-sufficient energy future for the Philippines by promoting domestic (natural) gas exploration and utilization.
With this strategy, the country can be a global economic powerhouse.
Pursuing self-generation industrial parks to push for alternative energy and to attract more ecozone investments that will generate the much needed jobs, exports, increased revenues for host LGUs, countryside development, and other economic opportunities can thus be attained, the PEZA chief said.
An LNG gas-based industry refers to any sector that utilizes liquefied natural gas as a primary energy source for its operations, including power generation, industrial processes like heating and drying, transportation fuels, and even certain food production facilities, where LNG is used for cooling and processing due to its clean-burning nature and high energy density.
