Unocal subsidiary eyes power plant

Philippine Geothermal Inc. (PGI), the local unit of US power giant Unocal Corp., will look into the possibility of participating in the privatization of the Tiwi-Makban geothermal power plant, a company official said.

"We will study that. We are looking at every opportunity in the industry," said the PGI official, who requested anonymity.

In 1971, PGI and National Power Corp. (Napocor) signed a contract for the former to explore and develop two major geothermal resources in Luzon. The projects, Tiwi and Makiling-Banahaw (Makban), presently supply 17 percent of the electricity requirements in the Luzon grid.

The official said PGI is coordinating with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) on the privatization scheme. PSALM, the state agency tasked to handle the sale and disposition of Napocor’s generating assets, has identified Tiwi-Makban as one of the power facilities to be disposed by the government within 18 months.

At the same time, the official said they are currently working out to "Filipinize" PGI by taking in Filipino partners.

"We hope new investors will be able to come in to PGI by next year," the official said. This move, he said, is consistent with the compromise agreement signed by PGI with the government under Presidential Decree 1442, the law on geothermal exploration and development.

He said they would tap the services of a financial advisor to determine the structure on how to go about the entry of new investors in the firm.

Aside from the Philippines, PGI’s parent firm Unocal has established its presence in other countries in Asia among them Thailand, Myanmar, India and Vietnam.

At present, Thailand is Unocal’s primary gas-producing area outside the United States. It operates 100 platforms in the central Gulf of Thailand, supplying natural gas to generate 30 percent of the nation’s total power demand. Of the natural gas produced, more than 75 percent is used to generate electricity.

Unocal is also one of four developers of the Yadana natural gas field offshore Myanmar. With reserves of more than five trillion cubic feet (140 billion cubic meters) of natural gas, the Yadana field is a world-class energy resource.

The US power giant also has major investments in the Bangladesh energy sector, as partner to the Bangladesh government and Petrobangla, a major oil firm in the country.

In Vietnam, Unocal started exploration projects in 1996. The natural gas discoveries in Vietnam can provide long-term domestic energy supply and fuel the development of the Mekong Delta region with clean-burning gas.