MANILA - US-based Excelerate Energy said Thursday the country's first open access LNG import terminal is set to go online by the second quarter of 2022 as the Texas-based firm said it was in the "final phases" to commence construction of the Filipinas LNG Gateway project.

"Despite substantial challenges due to COVID-19 and its resulting lockdowns, Excelerate and its local partner, Topline Energy, have been able to make tremendous progress on the project. We will submit our Permit to Construct, Expand, Rehabilitate and Modify (PCERM) to the DOE soon, which is the next steps in bringing this nationally important facility online as early as the 2nd quarter of 2022,” said Excelerate Energy’s local subsidiary Luzon LNG Terminal Inc president Ramon Wangdi.

Filipinas LNG, based offshore in Batangas Bay, will provide access to all power plants in the Luzon region, it said.

“Since receiving a Notice-to-Proceed (NTP) from the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) in late 2019, Excelerate has worked diligently to develop Filipinas LNG so that the energy markets can be prepared for the next chapter after Malampaya,” Wangdi said.

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Filipinas LNG aims to supplement natural gas supply in the country which has been "historically supplied" by the rapidly declining resources of the Malampaya gas fields.

With an import capacity of about 5 million tons of LNG per year, it will be able to supply fuel for up to 4,000 MW of baseload power generation, it said.

It will use offshore floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) technology designed to withstand extreme weather, the company added.

“Under almost any scenario, we see LNG playing an important role in supporting rapidly growing economies such as the Philippines that want to grow its energy supply reliably, competitively, and cleanly," Wangdi said.