OCEAN QUEST

I'm a bit upset that I wasn't invited.
‘Giant’ LNG carrier arrives in Quezon

• January 16, 2017
• Written by Gemi Formaran
• Published in Provincial

PAGBILAO, Quezon -- As an apparent “show of force” to the Philippine government, a giant Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier arrived in the country last Saturday and docked at Pagbilao LNG Hub Terminal in Bgy. Ibabang Polo, here.

Owned by Hong Kong LNG, a subsidiary of Energy World International, Ltd. (EWIL), LNG carrier “Ocean Quest” arrived at the jetty of the hub terminal early in the afternoon.

The ship arrival was witnessed by Stewart Elliott, Energy World Corporation (EWC) managing director and CEO, his son Graham, EWIL director, former Quezon Gov. Eduardo Rodriguez, Unisan, Quezon Vice Mayor Jun Jun Suarez representing his brother Gov. David Suarez, provincial administrator Rommel Edaño, village chief Arnel Amandy and a selected group of local journalists.

Rodriguez, EWC country manager, said Ocean Quest which is currently sailing under the flag of Norway is 289 meters long overall and beam of 41 meter. He said its gross tonnage is 88,919 tons and has a capacity to carry up to 128,000 cubic meters of LNG.

The former governor said Ocean Quest will be dedicated to LNG hub terminal, here, where it will be based permanently. He said the ship has sufficient capacity to act as floating storage and has on board regasification and processing equipment required to provide regassified LNG directly to the power station.

EWC is developing the first LNG hub terminal with full containment and onshore LNG tanks with pumpable capacity of 130,000 cubic meters of LNG each. The facility also consists of a dedicated jetty and marine infrastructure for the loading and unloading of LNG ships as well as regasification, control center and workshops and other ancillary facilities.

Adjacent to the hub terminal facility, EWC is also constructing the first LNG Fired Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Station with a capacity of 650 mega watts aimed at providing clean electricity which will be sold through Whole Electricity Spot Market (WESM) to the Luzon Grid in line with the Department of Energy’s vision of a clean energy in the future.

Saying the LNG project is the first of its kind in the Philippines, Rodriguez said the LNG hub terminal and power plant facilities in this coastal town would be a big help to the country's blooming power crisis.

“But is very ironic that while the country is now suffering from energy problem and a power source is being deprived of its right to take off and supply a cheaper electricity,” said Rodriguez.

In a statement, EWC executive director Brian Allen lamented that the power station is still unable to access the existing transmission line of the the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) “as this would enable the near term connection of the 400MW power plant equipments already on site and would represent further committed capacity to the Luzon grid.”

To overcome the issue, Allen said they are now in the process of finalizing arrangements to establish an alternative dedicated 120km-230kV transmission line from their Pagbilao site to connect directly to the NGCP operated Naga-Ta-yabas main transmission line.

During the press briefing, Stewart Elliott said the ship’s arrival is a clear manifestation that they are indeed ready to take off and operate in the Philippines.

Elliot told newsmen that natural gas is much cleaner, safer and environment-friendly as fuel source for the country than coal in terms of standard emissions in the environment.