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THURSDAY, 02 AUGUST 2012 19:35 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER
THE Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), the government’s coal, oil and gas exploration arm, has drawn interest from three foreign and local investors for its planned mine-mouth coal power plants in Zamboanga Sibugay and Isabela, Joseph Omar Castillo, the company vice president, told reporters on Thursday.
The PNOC-EC official said the three groups are keen to enter into a joint-venture agreement with the company for its mine-mouth coal power plants in Zamboanga Sibugay and Isabela.
Castillo said the power plants will have a combined capacity of 200 megawatts (MW).
Castillo declined to identify the companies, saying they have yet to finalize their commitment to the PNOC-EC.
On Monday, August 6, Castillo said, the PNOC-EC is set to bid out the transaction advisor that will help them look for joint-venture partners to develop the mine-mouth power plants.
The two mine-mouth coal power plant project is projected to cost $400 million.
Castillo said they remain optimistic that more companies will be interested to partner with PNOC-EC, particularly when the terms of reference have been finalized by the advisor.
He said the transaction advisor will come up with the terms of reference for the possible partnership and will have 135 days to pick PNOC-EC’s joint-venture partner for the two coal projects.
“We just want a minority stake in the joint venture so the PNOC-EC could own up to 49 percent only,” Castillo said.
He said they are also optimistic they can find a competent joint-venture partner for its projects.
“There are many prospective partners and competitive bidding is the best way to get the best deal,” he said.
PNOC-EC officials earlier said San Miguel Corp. has also expressed interest to partner with the company to develop the Isabela and Zamboanga Sibugay mine-mouth power plants.
San Miguel has several coal interests through its energy unit, San Miguel Energy Corp., which bought three coal companies with coal mines in South Cotabato.
“The power plants are at 100 MW each and will be coal-fired using PNOC-EC’s coal mines. It will reduce logistics cost of transporting coal. Isabela and Zamboanga Sibugay are underserved provinces and the plants will hopefully boost the business climate and generate needed employment there,” the officials said. source
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