MANILA, March 6 (Reuters) - The Philippines' First Gen Corp is talking with potential partners for its proposed $1billion LNG import terminal, the head of the energy firm said onFriday.
First Gen, one of the Southeast Asian nation's biggest powerproducers, has been under pressure to make a quick decision onwhether to build the import facility as it looks to securelong-term supplies of liquefied natural gas for its growingportfolio of gas-fired power plants.
"We have to decide this year who our partners will be,"First Gen President Francis Giles Puno told reporters on thesidelines of an industry event.
Puno declined to identify potential partners, but said FirstGen was discussing "possible areas of cooperation" in naturalgas with firms including Royal Dutch Shell. Shell didnot immediately respond to requests for comment.
First Gen expects to make a final investment decision byearly next year and could open the onshore terminal around thestart of the next decade, Puno said.
First Gen, which operates the Santa Rita and San Lorenzogas-fired plants in Batangas province with a combined capacityof 1,500 megawatts, expects to switch on its third gas-firedplant, the 97 MW Avion, by June.
A fourth, the $600 million San Gabriel plant with a 414 MWcapacity, will be up and running by April next year.
The two new plants will also run on Malampaya natural gassupplied by Shell from its Palawan contract area in the westernPhilippines. The government has said that Malampaya's output mayrun out by 2024.
Shell is looking to set up a floating LNG facility near itsTabangao refinery, also located in Batangas, near the capitalManila, ahead of the Malampaya shutdown, with First Gen as apossible customer.
The Philippines is set to open its doors to imported LNGthis year with the commissioning in about three months of apower plant built by Australia-listed Energy World Corp in Quezon Province. (Reporting by Erik dela Cruz; Editing by Joseph Radford)