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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
The success of the government’s compressed
natural gas (CNG) for transport project will depend on the
construction of a proposed pipeline that will bring natural gas from
the Malampaya field to potential users, said Edgar O. Chua,
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. country chairman.
In the inauguaration of the government’s
Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT) yesterday,
Chua said the public should temper its expectations for the
commercial operations of Pilipinas Shell’s CNG facilities as the
country can take advantage of the alternative fuel fully only after
the necessary facilities are put in place.
What the pilot project aims to achieve, through
the introduction of CNG-fed buses, is to nudge the government into
building the infrastructure, he said.
”A real rollout of CNG for transport will
really happen once we have the necessary infrastructure in place,
which calls for the pipeline that will crisscross major areas of the
country,” he said.
Chua said the establishment of a natural gas
pipeline, specifically the Batangas-to-Manila (BatMan I) project,
will enable the spread of natural gas usage within Luzon and attract
investors to put up more CNG refilling stations.
Pilipinas Shell’s CNG mother station, which
was completed last year near its refinery in Batangas, and refilling
station in Biñan, Laguna, are currently the only facilities
supporting the government’s CNG project, which aims to have at
least 200 natural gas-fed buses in Metro Manila.
The pipeline project is supposed to draw gas
from Malampaya, the country’s largest gas field operated by a
consortium led by Pilipinas Shell, for potential users in the
industrial, commercial, transport and residential sectors.
The BatMan I is a priority energy sector project
of the Philippine government and has been declared by the National
Economic Development Authority as a project of national
significance. However, the project has yet to push as it has been
hampered by the price increases of materials and equipment.
Aside from the pipeline, however, the country
will also need an anchor project, power plant, industrial and
commercial customers, to move the CNG project on a large scale, Chua
said.
With the Philippines reels from expensive oil
imports, which recently hit record highs in the world market, the
development of CNG for vehicles is expected to benefit both the
public and the environment as it is relatively cleaner and cheaper
than its regular fuel counterparts.
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