MANILA, Philippines – Dennis Uy’s Phoenix Petroleum denied a report by the Manila Bulletin which said that China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) may backpedal on their $2-billion joint venture for liquefied natural gas projects.

The article, published last Saturday, August 31, quoted a source as saying that CNOOC seems to be “ghosting” the Tanglawan Philippine LNG partnership, which also involves state-run Philippine National Oil Company.

The source, who is said to be an energy official, went on to say that CNOOC had not communicated with Uy’s company and the Philippine government.

“We have no knowledge on the assertions or contentions made in the article as of date of writing. The company continues its talks with CNOOC pertaining to the joint venture agreement with CNOOC,” Phoenix Petroleum said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, September 2.

Tanglawan Philippine LNG was given a notice to proceed (NTP) in December 2018.

However, a BusinessMirror article quoted Energy Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III as saying that the NTP expired last June 22. The company has yet to file for an extension. The groundbreaking was also supposed to happen back in May.

The joint venture aims to develop a power facility that can provide up to 2,000 megawatts of installed capacity. The companies said the produced energy would be much cleaner and would support the demand in Luzon. – Rappler.com