June 29, 2018 | 12:03 am
BASIC ENERGY Corp. has not given up
on its service contracts to explore five areas in the Philippines for their
potential capacity for geothermal energy.
“We don’t have any intentions of
letting go of it [geothermal service contract] because we believe that that’s
still the future,” Basic Energy President and Chief Executive Oscar L. de
Venecia, Jr. told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders meeting on
Wednesday.
“We will need a lot of baseload
requirements and geothermal is one of those sources for baseload. We feel that
there is a lot of room for geothermal and we believe [in] the projects that we
have,” he said.
Although geothermal exploration is a
more expensive project than other energy resources, Mr. De Venecia said it
remains viable in the long run.
The company has allocated around P60
million to P70 million as capital expenditure for its Philippine projects.
“When it comes to geothermal, when
you say exploration it is resource confirmation. You’re trying to find the
source of the steam, you’re looking for the temperatures, you’re looking for
the size of the field, how much steam you can make,” Mr. De Venecia said.
Basic Energy has five service
contracts awarded by the Department of Energy for the exploration and
development of geothermal energy in Mabini, Batangas; Mariveles, Bataan; east
Mankayan, Benguet; Iriga, Camarines Sur; and west Bulusan, Sorsogon. The five
projects are in different stages of development.
“In Mabini, we’ve done the first
well. We’re doing a confirmatory well hopefully by the end of the year if not
in the first quarter of next year,” Mr. De Venecia said. “That’s the longest
contract we’ve had. That was the first one awarded to us way back 2007.”
In Iriga, Basic Energy continues
with geophysical surveys, he said. The project is now led by Desco, Inc. after
Basic Energy in December 2016 secured the Energy department’s approval on the
farm-in agreement and deed of assignment with the service provider.
Under the deal, Desco will shoulder
the expenditure for the geophysical survey and all other activities required to
bring the Iriga geothermal service contract to drilling.
“It’s a little more behind,” he
said, adding Basic Energy is still gathering data to determine the best area to
drill its first exploratory hole.
“West Bulusan is still a little far
because we’re still trying to work with the community in getting things started
there,” Mr. De Venecia said. — Victor V. Saulon
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