Chevron to expand its geothermal sites in the Philippines
Alexander Richter
13 Tem 2009
Geothermal producer Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings Inc. (CGPHI) is seeking the expansion of its geothermal well sites in Albay, Laguna and Quezon. The proposal was made to Aboitiz Power Renewables Inc. (APRI), which won the bid for Chevron’s steam-field expansion program.
Reported locally, “Geothermal producer Chevron Geothermal Philippines Holdings Inc. (CGPHI) is seeking the expansion of its geothermal well sites in Albay, Laguna and Quezon. The proposal was made to Aboitiz Power Renewables Inc. (APRI), which won the bid for Chevron’s steam-field expansion program.
“The program involves the drilling of 10 to 15 geothermal wells within the next three years in Chevron’s Tiwi steam field in Albay and its Makiling-Banahay steam field in Laguna and Quezon,” Antonio Yee, CGPHI president and general manager, told reporters during a familiarization tour of its Tiwi geothermal field over the weekend.
He added that the development of one well could entail an investment of about $5 million to $6 million. He said a well could generate 7 to 8 megawatts (MW) of power a month.
Yee added that they are in the process of evaluating and discussing with APRI the project costs, where CGPHI would shoulder 45 percent of the drilling cost while APRI will pour in 55 percent.
APRI recently took over the Tiwi-Makban power plants from the National Power Corp. (Napocor). The two power plants use the steam generated from CGPHI’s geothermal steam fields.
APRI, a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp., offered $446.8 million for Tiwi-Makban when it was bid out in July.
Yee said they hope to finalize the agreement with APRI within the year in order to start the project during the second quarter of 2010.
Yee noted that CGPHI and APRI are working closely to focus on optimizing the steam fields’ existing capacities.
Yee said the Tiwi power plants source around 175 MW of their power from the Tiwi geothermal steam field. “If optimized, the said steam field could even increase its generating capacity to over 200 MW,” he added.
For more than 35 years, CGPHI, a wholly owned subsidary of Chevron Corp. of the US, has partnered with Napocor for the development of geothermal resources at Tiwi field in Albay province and Makiling-Banahaw field in Laguna and Quezon provinces.
Source: Philippine Business Mirror
