By Myrna M. Velasco

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has deployed its team in firming up a deal with Filipino firm Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc. on the targeted venture of putting up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the country.

The CNOOC team in the Philippines, according to sources, comprises of three to four executives including Li XinLi, who is the deputy manager of the Chinese firm’s planning group.

Phoenix Petroleum President and CEO Dennis A. Uy previously confirmed that they are undertaking a “feasibility study” on prospective LNG investments and that is being carried out in partnership with CNOOC.

Since that confirmation three months ago, the CNOOC-Phoenix joint venture reportedly went as far as scouting a site for their planned LNG terminal – one of which is a former site of a refinery in Batangas.

Phoenix Petroleum has not given specific details yet on the LNG investment target – such as the magnitude of capital outlay and the infrastructure components, if it will just entail LNG terminal (either onshore or the floating storage regasification unit) or it will also inject investments into gas-fed power plant projects.

The CNOOC-Phoenix investment team is still seen as very much in the running, despite last week’s announcement of state-run Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) that it rejected all “unsolicited proposals” on its $2-billion LNG venture and had instead shifted its tack into “solicited proposals” from interested parties.

In that latest move of PNOC, listed firm First Gen Corporation confirmed that its tender had been discarded by the state-run firm; although it qualified that its proposal is actually for PNOC “to participate in First Gen’s onshore storage and regasification terminal to be constructed within the First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City.”

For First Gen, it is aligning $1-billion investment for the LNG terminal which has been targeted for five million tons per annum (mtpa) capacity.

The Lopez firm added that “plans to develop (the) LNG terminal remain on track,” while emphasizing that it is now at advanced stages of negotiation with potential partners.

For PNOC, its LNG project has already been encountering delays if anchored on the timeframe that the company first set its eyes on last year.

In searching for a partner, the state-run firm intends for a joint venture arrangement with prospective “equitization” of its banked gas out of the Ilijan power project.