Basic Energy acquires three geothermal service contracts

Publicly listed Basic Energy Corp. has bagged three geothermal service contracts from the Department of Energy to explore and develop three frontier geothermal concession areas in Luzon.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday, Basic Energy identified the three projects as the Iriga, Mariveles and East Mankayan geothermal power projects.

According to Basic Energy, the East Mankayan geothermal area covered three provinces—Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao. It lies immediately east of the Cervantes, llocos Sur, geothermal block of Pan Pacific Power Phils. Inc., south of the Bontoc-Sadanga block, which is operated by Magma Energy Resources, and immediately south of the Daklan block operated by Clean Rock Energy. This particular area, Basic Energy added, was surrounded by known thermal manifestations such as hot springs and thermally altered grounds.

Basic Energy added that the geothermal area in Mariveles, Bataan, was situated along the West Luzon Volcanic Arc, which starts from Mt. Pinatubo in the north and extends farther south across the Manila Bay toward Batangas and northeastern Mindoro.

Meanwhile, the geothermal area in Iriga, Camarines Sur, was bounded to the north by the lsarog geothermal block of PNOC-Renewables Corp. and to the east by the highly productive Tiwi geothermal service contract area of the Aboitiz-led AP Renewables Inc. The landscape is dominated by the lriga or Asog Volcano, immediately southwest of Lake Buhi in southern Luzon.

Basic Energy earlier said that the three geothermal projects were in line with the company’s business thrust this year to look into new projects in renewable energy development and production.

Currently, the company has a planned 20-megawatt Mabini geothermal power project in Batangas. While it has been continuing discussions with other companies on a potential joint venture, Basic Energy has been undertaking the necessary exploratory work within the site to fulfill its obligations under its geothermal service contract.

Once the proposed geothermal power facility is operational, Basic Energy said it planned to sell the power to be generated to the electric cooperatives and the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).