Jose Rene Almendras said the government and its partner Royal Dutch Shell Group
"If one of the partners is willing to sell down, both the Philippine government and Shell making a tender offer," he told reporters at the sidelines of a government event.
Manila, through PNOC Exploration Corp
Almendras said the government would exercise its right of first refusal if a member of the Malampaya consortium decides to sell its shares.
"We have made it very clear to them that if they want to sell, we are willing to buy because I want more gas," he said. "Gas will become very critical in the future, so I want to increase the volume of our gas supply."
He said both the government and Shell are "very much interested" in participating in the second phase of Malampaya's development, which would cost $1 billion to $1.5 billion.
The consortium had spent about $1.2 billion to implement the first phase of the project between 2002 and 2006.
Chevron has not disclosed plans to sell its shares, Almendras said.
In a visit to Manila in January, Shell chief financial officer Simon Henry said the consortium would invest an extra $1 billion over five years to ensure reliable gas supply. [ID:nSGE70H065]
Jose Layug, undersecretary at the Department of Energy, had said in January the Malampaya operators were looking to increase gas sales by enough to generate an additional 300 megawatts. The consortium has committed to supply gas to power producers for a period of more than 20 years, he said.
(Reporting by Erik dela Cruz; Editing by Rosemarie Francisco)
