Pertamina, PNOC unit ink pact on exploration

Indonesia’s oil giant Pertamina and state-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) have signed an agreement to conduct geothermal exploration in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

PNOC-EDC president Sergio Apostol told reporters that a team will be dispatched to Indonesia next week to firm up the details of the agreement.

"The focus of the trip to Indonesia is to talk on the equity sharing on the proposed project in Sulawesi," Apostol said.

He said that Pertamina would likely take a bigger share in the project, but PNOC-EDC will be the one to put the geothermal plant since the company has the technical know-how, equipment and experience. "Perhaps, we will be the operator of the power plant," he said.

The Sulawesi prospect has a potential to generate at least 20-MW of power, Apostol said.

In Indonesia, Pertamina’s operation is primarily focused on energy development. One of its major geothermal development projects is the Salak project in Jakarta, West Java.

PNOC-EDC, is the geothermal unit of PNOC. It operates nine geothermal steamfields with an aggregate capacity of 1,149 megawatts accounting for about 60 percent of the Philippines’ total installed geothermal capacity.

In November last year, the Indonesian government committed to invest up to $1 billion in the Philippines.

Aside from Indonesia, PNOC-EDC also has pending negotiations with Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and Costa Rica. – Donnabelle Gatdula