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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
TRANS-ASIA Oil and Energy
Development Corp. (TA Oil) expects to allot at least half a billion
dollars for capital expenditures this year for the purchase of the
Masinloc coal-fired power plant.
Fransisco L. Viray,
newly-installed president of TA Oil, said the company’s capex for
2007 will be higher than the P300 million programmed last year
because of its plan to participate in the auction of the state-owned
600-megawatt power facility.
“We will bid for Masinloc. Our
capex is really for the acquisition of Masinloc. The capex will be
double because of the acquisition of the government power plant,”
he said.
TA Oil already submitted a letter
of intent to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management
Corp. (PSALM), which is tasked to privatize the government’s
energy assets.
The amount to be allocated for
the acquisition of the Masinloc power plant is expected to be at
least $500 million, Antonio del Rosario, former TA Oil president,
said.
“It’s just an initial
estimate so you can expect it to be up or down depending on the
need,” he added.
Psalm is set to auction off the
Masinloc plant in the second half of the year after failing to
privatize the asset last year. The prebid conference for Masinloc is
scheduled on May 8, while bidding proper is slated on July 26, 12
noon, at the PSALM office in Makati.
The sale of Masinloc to the YNN
Pacific Consortium last year failed to push through because of the
consortium’s failure to deliver the $227-million upfront payment
on the deadline Psalm set. This prompted the government to forfeit
the $14-million performance bond YNN posted.
Besides Masinloc, TA Oil is also
looking at bidding for other state-owned power plants that are up
for auction especially its geothermal and hydro facilities, del
Rosario said.
TA Oil, a unit of the Phinma
group of companies, has a total capacity of 76.4 megawatts, which
includes the 52-megawatt power plant in Norzagaray, the 3.4-megawatt
facility in Guimnaras and the 21-megawatt CIP II plant in Laguna.
Last year the company recorded a
huge jump in earnings, tripling to P327 million from just P100
million in 2005.
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