MANILA, Philippines — Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), the listed integrated energy company of the Consunji family, has remitted P5.9 billion in royalty payments to the Department of Energy (DOE), the highest in its corporate history.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, SMPC said the first-quarter remittance represents an 807 percent increase from the P656 million paid in the same period last year.
The company attributed the record-setting government share to the all-time high coal shipments and average selling prices.
“We had an exceptionally strong start, so much so that in three months, we surpassed our previous full-year royalty payments,” SMPC president and COO Maria Cristina Gotianun said.
During the quarter, the company boosted production by 49 percent from 4.5 million metric tons (MMT) to 6.7 MMT, the highest for any given three-month period.
This was attributed to controlled water seepage levels in Molave mine and favorable weather conditions.
With record production, total shipments grew by 31 percent from 3.9 MMT to 5.1 MMT, another historic performance from the company.
Average coal selling price also jumped by 180 percent from P1,829 to P5,125 on soaring index prices and sale of more high-grade coal.
This, as Newcastle coal prices nearly tripled in the first quarter owing to strengthening global demand, heavy rainfall in Australia, and bans on Russian coal.
The first quarter remittance is already close the P5.4 billion paid to the DOE last year.
Last year’s royalty payment was on the back of improved coal output and favorable market conditions allowed the company to ship more coal at elevated prices.
Of the P5.9 billion remitted by SMPC, more than P3.5 billion will be retained by the national government.
In accordance with the law, the rest will go to the host local government units of the SMPC mine site, with the province of Antique receiving P476 million while the municipality of Caluya and Barangay Semirara receiving around P1.1 billion and P833 million, respectively.
The Local Government Code of 1991 entitles local government units to a 40 percent share of royalty proceeds from petroleum, coal, geothermal, hydrothermal and wind resources.
SMPC is the only vertically-integrated power generator in the country that produces its own fuel.
As the largest domestic coal producer, it supplies affordable fuel to power plants, cement factories and other industrial facilities across the Philippines.
Under its power business, SEM-Calaca Power Corp. (SCPC) owns the 2x300-MW Calaca coal-fired power plant in Batangas which it acquired from the government in 2009 with its bid of $362 million. Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. (SLPGC) runs the 2x150-MW coal power facility also in the same area.