PNOC’s geothermal unit eyes projects in Argentina, Australia

State-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) is eyeing Australia and Argentina as potential international geothermal development markets, a ranking company official said.

PNOC-EDC vice president for technical services Manuel Ogena said they are currently negotiating with the governments of the two countries for possible geothermal development projects.

Aside from these two potential markets, Ogena said PNOC-EDC has recently bagged contracts with the Iranian government.

"We won contracts for consultancy on a 55-megawatt (MW) geothermal power plant project in Mt. Sablan," he said.

PNOC-EDC has also secured another drilling contract with Lihir Management Corp. in Papua New Guinea.

In 2004, it was reported that PNOC-EDC was in talks with countries including Cambodia, Indonesia and Kazakhstan.

PNOC-EDC had also reportedly joined forces with Chevron Texaco and Gulf Resources Inc. to bid for a natural gas development project in Bangladesh.

Chevron is one of the largest oil development firms in the US while Gulf Resources is an European oil company.

PNOC-EDC is the geothermal unit of PNOC. It was created in 1976 to accelerate the exploration, delineation and development of indigenous energy resources. A drilling division is consequently formed to carry out EDC’s mission.

EDC is currently the Philippines’ premier geothermal company with 1,149.4 MW installed capacity spread over geothermal steamfields in Leyte, Negros Oriental, Bicol, and North Cotabato. This represents 60 percent of the country’s total geothermal capacity.

EDC is aggressively enhancing its drilling activities here and abroad as it gets ready for an initial public offering (IPO).