PHILPPINE National Oil Co. (PNOC) has tapped a Netherlands-based firm as advisor for its proposed Batangas-Manila (BatMan) 1 natural gas pipeline project.

The Private-Public Partnership (PPP) Center, in a statement on Tuesday, said Rebel Group International BV will act as transaction advisor for the project. “The Rebel Group will undertake the feasibility study for BatMan 1 and provide PNOC transaction advisory support until the project’s financial close,” the statement read. “This will be funded through the Project Development and Monitoring Facility managed by… PPP Center.”

The center said ceremonial contract signing was held Monday.

Zenaida Y. Monsada, director of the Energy department’s Oil Industry Management Bureau, said in June last year that the study will determine project cost and route of the pipeline, among others. The pipeline was initially estimated to cost as much as $2.1 billion.

It involves a 105-kilometer pipeline that will channel natural gas to markets along its route from Batangas, Laguna, Cavite, and eventually to Metro Manila.

 

 

12 march 2014

By Claire-Ann Marie C. Feliciano