By MYRNA M. VELASCO
The Department of Energy (DoE) has gotten new interest from American and Chinese firms in planned compressed natural gas (CNG) facilities, committing an investment amounting to $30 million (roughly P1.65 billion).
DoE director for Energy Utilization and Management Bureau Mario C. Marasigan named the interested parties as Callandra North America, LLC; which is based in San Diego, California; and Chinese firm Synergy Corporation.
The two firms, he revealed, plans to put up two mother and five daughter CNG stations each; in areas that have yet to be identified.
In addition, he revealed that Tata Investment Corporation Ltd. of India has affirmed interest of bringing in or investing in CNG buses or cars that would be deployed for the Philippine transport sector.
"Tata has already met with bus operators to discuss the possibility of supplying CNG buses and cars," he said.
The entry of these investors into the local CNG market, according to the DoE official, will be hastened with the open access policy set out by the energy department for the gas sector.
While aggressively enticing investor interest, the energy department acknowledged that it is also keenly giving attention to fixing some remaining major loose ends in the promotion of natural gas as an alternative fuel for the transport sector; and even for other industries.
It has been raised with government that the setting up of a pipeline infrastructure and assurance of sustainable supply would eventually thrive as the major concerns that need to be addressed to make certain that CNG would indeed be a viable alternative fuel.
At this stage, the government is awaiting commercial operation of the pilot mother-daughter CNG facility that would jumpstart wider use of CNG for the country’s transport sector; initially catering to 200 buses imported by bus operator HM Transport, Inc.
While already behind for several months, hopes are not waning that it would commence operation soon; and this comes with an assurance that only minor concerns are now being fixed by project sponsors Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. and affiliate Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation.
With the government’s plan to expand CNG use to as much
as 2,000 buses in the near-term, industry players pointed out that this should already be supported by a pipeline.
Aside from supporting the expanded use for CNG for the transport sector, the pipeline should have served the requirements of a baseload plant in Metro Manila, primarily the proposed re-powering of the idled Sucat power facility, which would be lined up as its anchor load.
The proposed 100-kilometer Batangas-Manila onshore pipeline was estimated to cost around $100 million.
Implementation was already gaining ground two years ago; but because of government’s confusion on policy to adopt, it is now losing momentum.
While CNG is offered at a cheaper price because of the subsidy, experts noted that in entirety, it could not come to be a cheaper option for the commuting public because there are other components that would determine fare rates; such as the fact that CNG buses have a relatively costlier import price; which operators may certainly want to recover.
The value-creating factor, however, would be on the assurance that a cleaner fuel is used and since it is indigenous-based, this contributes to the government’s goal of promoting energy independence.
