Manila Times.net
THE Department of Energy (DOE) will touch base with Indonesian officials and investors in a bid to secure Philippine coal requirements amid rising oil prices worldwide.
“Indonesia is our largest single coal supplier, I have to secure that,” Energy Sec. Jose Rene Almendras said.
The DOE chief is part of President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s contingent, which also includes representatives of Philippine companies with interests in power generation.
“Each company is talking to the Indonesian companies. We’re talking to the Indonesian government, to make them feel good about [that] fact, and show appreciation that they continue to sell us coal,” Almendras said.
About a third of the Philippines’ power generation mix is from coal-fired power plants. This volume is expected to increase in the short term as a number of such generating facilities are being put up across the nation.
Local coal is considered relatively low-grade compared with those imported from Indonesia.
“There are new power plants going up. They may be buying coal from Indonesia,” Almendras said.
Among the companies planning to put up coal-fed power plants are state-controlled Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp., Aboitiz Power Corp., San Miguel Corp., the consortium of Korea Electric Power Corp. and Salcon Power Corp., the Metrobank Group, Manila Electric Co., and Eastern Petroleum Corp.
Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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