Trans-Asia completes asset consolidation

MANILA, Philippines - Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. has finalized the consolidation of its petroleum exploration assets into two subsidiaries.

The move will allow the company to focus on power generation projects in the country.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Trans-Asia said it signed the memorandum of agreement and deeds of assignment transferring its stake in five oil and petroleum blocks to Trans-Asia Petroleum Corp. and Palawan55 Exploration & Production Corp.

Trans-Asia Petroleum, formerly Trans-Asia Karang Besar, now owns shares in Service Contract (SC) 6 Block A and Block B in Northwest Palawan, SC 51 in Northwest Leyte and SC 69 in the Visayas Basin.

The SC 51 consortium will spend $6.7 million for the fifth exploration period that will start in February and be completed in January 2014.

Trans-Asia also assigned its shares in SC 55 in Southwest Palawan to Palawan55.

Trans-Asia Petroleum is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Trans-Asia while Palawan55 is owned by Trans-Asia and Trans-Asia Petroleum.

In August, Trans-Asia Karang-Besar changed its primary purpose to oil and gas exploration and production from power generation.

“Both assignments are subject to approval of the Department of Energy and delivery of certain undertakings to Trans-Asia’s SC partners,” the company said.

To date, the company owns and operates four plants with an aggregate production capacity of 186.4 megawatts (MW).

The bulk of energy sales came from contract customers, with excess output sold to the spot market.

In the next three years, generating capacity is projected to increase to 347.4 MW as three scheduled projects go onstream – the CIP II Power Plant in Laguna, the 20-MW Maibarara Geothermal Inc. renewable energy project also in Laguna and the 135-MW South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. circulating fluidized bed power plant in Batangas.