Marubeni looks to supply natural gas to the Philippines

Proposal, however, depends on Philippines building necessary infrastructure.

Japan’s Marubeni Corporation is interested in supplying the Philippines with natural gas once the government is able to put in place the necessary infrastructure that will make this project feasible.

Takashi Ishigami, president and chief executive officer of Marubeni Philippines Corporation, said the problem is that the Philippines doesn’t have any receiving facilities.

"Malampaya is providing gas to the (natural gas plants), but I heard Malampaya will expire and maybe in the future, we will need to import natural gas from overseas,” he said.

Ishigami said that once the local natural gas market matures, the Philippines can benefit from cheaper prices of natural gas from the US.

Marubeni Philippines is focusing on the US$800 million expansion of the Pagbilao coal-fired power plant in Quezon province. This expansion, which is expected to be completed by 2016, will increase the capacity of the facility by another 400 megawatts from the existing 700 MW.