ADNOC, AG&P Agree FSU Lease for Philippines First LNG Terminal Launch in July

The logistics arm of state oil firm Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) will supply a floating storage unit to LNG logistics company AG&P to launch the Philippines' first LNG import terminal in July, the companies said on Wednesday.

Singapore-based Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific International Holdings (AG&P) signed an 11-year charter agreement, extendable by four years, to convert ADNOC Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S) liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier ISH into a floating storage unit (FSU) for a new terminal at Ilijan in Batangas Bay.

The Philippines' domestic natural gas reserves are depleting and the country has been developing plans for LNG import terminals for years to feed its power plants.

Six LNG terminal projects have been proposed to come online between 2022 and 2025, energy ministry data shows. Philippine power producer First Gen Corp FGEN.PS has previously said it expects to start importing at its terminal this year.

AG&P's terminal, named PHLNG with an initial capacity of 5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), will be commissioned July 1 with commercial operations starting soon afterwards, its CEO Joseph Sigelman told Reuters.

The offshore LNG storage will be 137,000 cubic meters which will be complemented by 120,000 cubic meters of onshore storage in two tanks that are set to come online by 2024, Sigelman said.

This is the second FSU project between AG&P and ADNOC. In 2020 the companies agreed for ADNOC to supply an FSU to AG&P's LNG import facility at Karaikal Port in India's Puducherry.

Sources in November told Reuters ADNOC was weighing an initial public offering (IPO) in Abu Dhabi this year of ADNOC L&S.  

ADNOC L&S CEO Abdulkareem Al Masabi said in the statement the deal showed his company's focus on maximizing value from its existing assets, and that it was growing its global footprint.

(Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Dubai, Additional reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in ManilaEditing by Mark Potter)