PNOC-EDC, Marubeni tie up for Indon proj

The Energy Development Corp. (EDC) of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has teamed up with Marubeni of Japan for a geothermal development project in Indonesia, EDC chairman and president Sergio Apostol said.

"We (EDC and Marubeni) have already sent a team to conduct a survey of the geothermal prospects in Indonesia," Apostol said.

Apostol said a group from Pertamina, Indonesia’s state-owned company enterprise for oil, natural gas and geothermal exploration and development, visited EDC’s office last week to finalize the deal. "We hope to start the drilling the soonest possible time. We are just waiting for the notice from Pertamina," he said.

EDC has been studying Indonesia as one of its potential clients for geothermal development.

In July 2002, an EDC evaluation team made a technical and economic assessment of three potential geothermal projects in Indonesia. Two of the prospective areas, Ulubelu and Lumut Balai are located in South Sumatra, while the third geothermal prospect, Tompaso, is located in North Sulawesi.

The team conducted an extensive review of available information from Pertamina, site visits, sampling, assessment of existing infrastructure, market demand and supply analysis, review of the legal and fiscal framework and financial analysis.

Initial findings of the team, based on available preliminary data, show an estimated probable resource potential of 225 megawatts (MW) for Ulubelu, 300 MW for Tompaso and 1,050-1,500 MW for Lumut Balai. The estimated resource potentials, however, are subject to revisions pending the availability of results from laboratory testing of water, isotope and rock samples obtained from the project areas. But this early, market and financial analyses are encouraging and show that the development of the three project areas is highly feasible.

It was not clear, though, if the drilling operations this year will be based on the initial findings gathered in 2002.