DOE to study PNOC plan to bid for geothermal projects

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy will study the plan of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to bid for geothermal sites to be auctioned off under the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR).

Energy Secretary and PNOC chairman Angelo Reyes said they would look into whether a government entity can bid for a government asset being privatized.

PNOC-Renewable Corp. (PNOC-RC) president Pete Maniego earlier revealed plans of the newly-formed subsidiary to bid in the geothermal contracting rounds.

When the government auctioned and sold PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (EDC) to the Lopez group last year, PNOC rejected the latter’s request for a non-compete clause.

“When we privatized EDC, they asked for a non-compete clause. In other words, government should not invest at all in geothermal, but the PNOC board rejected that. We said privatizing EDC does not mean that we’re already precluded from investing in geothermal. PNOC-RC’s bid for government assets being privatized is something I have to discuss with them,” he said.

Last year, PNOC president Antonio Cailao pointed out that in the sale agreement with PNOC-EDC, “the government, mainly through the Department of Energy (DOE)/PNOC can go into geothermal energy business anytime.”

Cailao said PNOC has more than 80 technical persons and scientists that can back up PNOC in going into this business.

“This is not to mention some P17 billion in financial resources to get into business,” he said.

Of the P58.5-billion proceeds from the sale of PNOC-EDC to First Gen Corp.-led consortium-Red Vulcan Holdings Corp., PNOC got P11.5 billion while P47 billion went to the National Government.