Napocor buys coal needs from Indonesia, China

Stated-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) has successfully auctioned off the first tranche of its coal supply requirements for 2002 worth $41 million.

Napocor corporate fuel management department head Elisa Dayao said the bidding, held electronically last week, was participated in by Indonesian and Chinese coal suppliers. Results of the bidding will be forwarded to the Napocor board and the National Economic and Development Authority for approval.

The first batch of coal supply requirements will go to the four coal-fired power plants, namely: the Batangas coal-fired thermal plant in Calaca, the 700-MW Pagbilao power plant; the 600-MW Masinloc coal-fired plant and the 1,200-MW Sual plant.

Dayao said Indonesian firm PT Indominco/Glencore bagged the supply and delivery contract equivalent to 180,000 metric tons of coal for the 600-MW Calaca power plant after it submitted a freight on board (FOB) price of $29 and a freight cost of $3.75 equivalent to $5.89-million worth of supply contract. The award, she said, covers half of the coal requirements of the Calaca plant for next year.

Another Indonesian-based firm, PT Arutmin, won the 325,000 MT requirement of the Pagbilao plant after it submitted an FOB price of $30.90 and freight cost of $3.70 equivalent to a $11.24-million supply contract covering one-fourth of the plant’s yearly fuel needs.

Chinese firm Shanxi/Jibsen, was awarded the 390,000 MT supply contract of the Masinloc plant after it submitted an FOB price of $30 and freight cost of $2.50 which translates to a $12.67-million supply contract.

CNCIEC/Noble, also from China, got the 325,000 MT contract for Sual with its FOB bid of $30 and freignt cost of $1.97. This translates to $10.39 million.

Dayao said Napocor will complete the bidding for the second and third tranches of the 2002 coal supply requirements of the power plants by the first and last weeks of November. At present, Napocor operates the Calaca and Masinloc coal power plants while the Sual and Pagbilao plants are operated by independent power producer Mirant Phils.

Under Napocor’s energy conversion agreements with independent power producers (IPPs), the state power firm is contractually obliged to supply the fuel requirements of these IPPs. Hence, it is Napocor which procures the imported coal requirements of IPP-run power plants such as Sual and Pagbilao.

Dayao said Napocor’s use of its electronic bidding system for the supply requirements of the coal-fired power plants has already translated into a 15-percent savings for the company in its fuel procurement. – Donnabelle Gatdula