By Myrna M. Velasco

Several American gas-producing companies are offering liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply to the Philippines as the country contemplates a technology reset process for its gas market.

The LNG supply offer was channeled through Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi during his bilateral meeting with the US Business Council on the sidelines of last week’s ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting in Singapore.

“They (American firms) are interested to supply LNG to the Philippines… so what I have been selling to them is the ‘gas hub concept’ that we are thinking for the country,” Cusi said.

The energy chief noted that his “gas hub” proposition is anchored on the fact that Philippine ports, like Subic, could be an ideal “intermediate destination” of LNG that might be shipped from the US to various Southeast Asian markets.

“I am actually pitching for the country – we’re already a transshipment point (so) they might want to consider using our terminals,” Cusi stressed.

According to industry forecasts, gas markets will continue to be well supplied with gas – and that shall be propelled mainly by the deeply anticipated success of shale gas revolution 2.0 in the US, courtesy of the Permian basin of which output is expected to double by year 2023.

Output from the Permian discovery, it was noted, will more than compensate for the declining reserves from other producing fields.

The Permian petroleum find is a sedimentary basin straddling part of Texas and southeastern part of New Mexico – and as programmed, roughly 41,000 new wells and $308 billion in upstream spending between 2018 and 2023 will be driving up its output in the next five years.

US oil producers have always been vocal about exceptional prospects of flowing LNG to Asian markets – considering this part of the world as a vital factor to growth in gas demand in the medium- to long-term trajectories.

For the Philippines in particular, its gas market will be going through a very critical transition of shifting its supply procurement from indigenous sourcing to embracing imported LNG as an option.