Shell urged to drop LNG plans in biodiversity hotspot VIP

Protect Verde Island Passage (Protect VIP) on Friday challenged carbon major Shell to hop on the bandwagon of fossil fuel companies that are now ending plans to put up liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities along the critical marine corridor.

In November, Ayala-led ENEXOR announced the cancellation of its proposed 1,100 MW Batangas Clean Energy LNG project. This momentum continued in December, when Vires Energy cancelled its planned 900 MW LNG project in Barangay Simlong, Batangas City – sealing another major win for communities defending the passage and pulling the brakes on what had been ambitious plans for the fossil fuel in the vicinity of the VIP.

“Many of the companies that were putting up massive plans for LNG have by now met a rude awakening: that communities will not stand by as our Amazon of the ocean is destroyed, and that LNG, vulnerable as it is to market fluctuations, is tricky business. Shell’s Philippine office will do well to close off its planned LNG terminal for good,” said Fr. Edwin Gariguez, Lead Convenor of Protect VIP.

Led by coastal communities, faith groups, civil society organizations, and sectoral groups, Protect VIP has been standing up for years against gas and other destructive activities threatening the globally significant biodiversity hotspot.

In 2021, Shell revived its plans for an LNG import facility with a floating storage regasification unit in Tabangao, slated to have a capacity of 3.8 million tons per annum. The project has since faced opposition and severe delays, but Shell has yet to officially withdraw from its pursuit.

According to the group, pursuing this project only adds to Shell’s history of ecological harm while exacerbating vulnerabilities of Filipino communities to both climate impacts and price shocks. According to the Carbon Majors Database, just 32 companies were responsible for more than half of global fossil carbon emissions in 2024. Shell is one of them.

“Companies that were able to put up their LNG facilities have, by now, caused great harm to ecosystems, local communities, and the pockets of consumers who pay for costly electricity from gas. Shell needs not add to these detrimental impacts. Pulling out of its LNG plans would be a step in the right direction after a century of driving pollution globally,” said Gerry Arances, Executive Director of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED) and co-convenor of Protect VIP.

Despite gains, the struggle to protect the Verde Island Passage and biodiversity hotspots in the Philippines from destructive fossil fuel operations remains steep. The passage of the Philippine Natural Gas Industry Development Act and government's drive for gas reliance fuel remaining plans for expansion in the VIP, which is the epicenter of gas power generation and importation, as well as other critical ecosystems such as in Palawan, where at least 13 new service contracts for gas exploration has been issued.

“Each cancelled project in recent months is proof of the power of communities resisting activities that harm their livelihoods and the seas that will sustain generations yet to come. The challenge at hand may appear enormous, but these plans for more fossil fuel destruction are not set in stone. Giants do not fall in a single blow, but through persistent, collective action. And in the Verde Island Passage, the cuts are already showing,” said Fr. Gariguez. ###