Phinma Energy enters fuel supply business

MANILA, Philippines — Phinma Energy Corp., the publicly listed power unit of the Phinma Group, is entering the fuel supply business this year to serve as the company’s buffer amid rising fuel supply risks, company officials said.

During the firm’s annual stockholders’ meeting, Phinma Energy president and CEO Francisco Viray announced plans to venture in the fuel supply business through subsidiary One Subic Oil Distribution Corp.

The business venture would become the group’s means of mitigating the domestic fuel supply risk, he said.

“The company will continue cultivating relationships with alternative suppliers in the region to mitigate supply delivery risk and as fallback sources in the future,” he said in his report.

“The entry into the fuel supply business, which will primarily serve Phinma Energy Group’s pool of diesel plants, will provide the company an immediate diversification platform,” Viray said.

Toward the end of last year, One Subic Oil completed commercial and technical analysis of the new business venture.

Viray said the subsidiary is now in the process of securing permits necessary to initiate the short construction period for the required facility.

In an interview after the meeting, Phinma Energy senior vice president for finance Mariejo Bautista said the subsidiary would initially serve the company’s needs.

She said One Subic Oil would have a capacity of 16 million liters, just to serve as a buffer for Phinma Energy’s expected 50-million liter usage this year.

Bautista said the investment for the new business venture is only minimal since the tanks would be leased from Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and only transport equipment would be purchased.

“It’s only a minimal investment. We’re going to lease the tank. We’re just going to invest in equipment to load and unload,” she said.

Phinma Energy would eventually expand the capacity of One Subic Oil to serve bunker fuel requirements of other plants, Bautista said.

The group has several diesel power plants. These include the 52-megawatt (MW) Bunker-C fuel power plant in Bulacan under Phinma Power Generation Corp. (PPGC), 21-MW diesel plant in Bacnotan, La Union under CIP II Power Corp. and 116-MW diesel power plant in Subic Bay Freeport Zone under One Subic Power Generation Corp.

Phinma Energy also acquired from the government Power Barges 101, 102 and 103. Each barge is a 32-MW barge-mounted bunker-fired diesel generating power station with four eight-MW identical Hitachi-Sulzer diesel generator units.