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THE geothermal unit of state-run Philippine National
Oil Co. (PNOC) said its net income in the first semester more than
doubled on the back of higher recurring income and foreign exchange
gains.
In a statement, PNOC-Energy
Development Corp. (PNOC EDC) said it registered a 109-percent
increase in profits to P4.2 billion from P2 billion in the same
period last year.
The company attributed the
significant increase to a 9 percent jump in recurring net income of
P2.8 billion due to cost savings resulting from the completion of
the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract for the Upper Mahiao Power
Plant.
The significant appreciation of
the peso against the dollar also contributed to the company’s
improved profitability as this has effectively lowered associated
costs for the remaining active BOT contracts and for the company’s
foreign loans.
However, PNOC EDC’s net sales
dropped by 4 percent to P10.3 billion from P10.7 billion last year,
primarily due to the decrease in average electricity prices in the
company’s Leyte and Mindanao projects.
“This is because in the
computation for price inflation factor, the significant appreciation
of peso against the dollar negated the increases due to local and US
indices,” PNOC EDC said.
For its foreign ventures, the
company reported an increase of P84.9 million, or 33 percent in the
sales of drilling services to Lihir Gold Ltd. in Papua New Guinea
from P254.8 million to P339.7 million.
With its successful public
listing last December, the government stake in PNOC EDC was reduced
to 60 percent of outstanding shares. The sale of another 3 billion
shares by PNOC on July 9 reduced the government’s stake to 47
percent.
On July 25, the company assumed
operations of the 232.5 megawatt Malitbog and 180 megawatt
Mahanagdong A and B power plants after completion of their
respective 10-year BOT cooperation period as per their respective
Energy Conversion Agreements. Both geothermal power plants are
located in the island province of Leyte and were operated by
CalEnergy International Ltd. prior to the turnover.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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