First Gen secures 25-year permit for Batangas LNG import terminal

FSRU BW Batangas, owned by BW LNG and chartered by First Gen, received the cargo from the 174,000-cbm GasLog Greece, owned by GasLog and chartered by Shell, from Shell’s QCLNG plant in Australia.

BW Batangas is berthed at the First Gen Clean Energy Complex (FGCEC) in Batangas City.

First Gen uses regasified LNG to fuel its gas-fired power plants located in the complex.

The company has a portfolio of four gas-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 2,017 MW that have been supplied for many years with gas from the Malampaya offshore gas field.

LNG cargo tenders

Prior to the arrival of GasLog Greece, First Gen issued a tender in September 2024 seeking to procure a single cargo of LNG via its unit First Gen Singapore on a delivered ex-ship (DES) basis.

The firm awarded the tender to LNG giant Shell.

This was the seventh tender the company issued since 2023.

Prior to this tender, First Gen launched tenders for delivery in May and July, while the fourth tender was not awarded as First Gen did not get a firm commitment from Manila Electric regarding the costs of the LNG supply.

Shell supplied the first LNG cargo for commissioning purposes to First Gen’s FSRU-based LNG terminal in August 2023, while Trafigura and TotalEnergies supplied the second and the third cargo.

A unit of China’s state-owned energy giant CNOOC supplied the fourth LNG cargo, while First Gen awarded the fifth LNG cargo to Japan’s Tokyo Gas for delivery in July 2024.

Japan’s city gas supplier and LNG importer Tokyo Gas and First Gen are partners, and the Japanese company in May last year entered into a deal to buy a 20 percent stake in First Gen LNG, a unit of First Gen and the operator of the FSRU-based terminal in Batangas.