The Department of Energy today said that South Korean firms have expressed keen interest to take part in the development of the country's downstream natural gas industry.

In a report, Energy Secretary Vicente S. Perez, who headed a Philippine delegation that visited South Korea last week, said that officials of the South Korean companies have shown interest in investing in the necessary infrastructure that would develop the downstream natural gas sector.

"Our natural gas industry is one of the industries that are attracting interest from different countries. Our meetings with the several Korean firms indicated a very strong interest among them to carry out these vital projects," Perez said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has ordered the DOE to lead in forming a consortium with interested parties that would undertake the development of the downstream natural gas sector by putting in place the backbone transmission and distribution pipelines and related infrastructure facilities such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and refilling stations.

Perez said that among the South Korean firms interested in investing in the country's natural gas industry were Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) and Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas).

Kepco is the largest Korean firm investor in the Philippines through the operations of the $700 million Ilijan natural-gas power

plant in Batangas.

Kogas, on the other hand, owns the largest LNG terminal in the world with a storage capacity of 2.24 million cubic meters as of end 2001.

"Natural gas is considered as the fuel of the 21st century and ranks as the most environmentally-friendly fuel. The availability of a viable gas transport infrastructure, however, is critical to increase its utilization given that based on our projections show that the demand for natural gas will pick up in the next coming years," Perez stressed.

According to Perez, from 203.2 million standard cubic feet (MSCF) of gas produced from the San Antonio field in Isabela in 1997, the country's production has increased by 2,336.5 percent to reach 4,951.3 MSCF in 2001.

At present, the Malampaya natural gas from the waters off Palawan is being used to fuel three power plants within a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts (MW), Perez said.

 p Top