Despite being tagged as a “dirty fuel,” the country’s coal production continued to rise to 7.61 million metric tons last year from an estimated production of 6.29 million MT in 2010, due largely to a growing demand for the commodity as fuel to generate electricity.
Documents from the Department of Energy (DoE) showed that of the 7.61 million MT, 7.19 million MT came from Semirara Island in Antique, followed by Zamboanga Sibugay, which produced 168,951 MT. The rest of last year’s coal production came from Cebu, Batan Island, Surigao, Negros and Albay.
Coal imports last year were much higher than local production at 10.96 million MT, of which 99 percent or 10.89 million MT, came from Indonesia, while the remaining 68,169 MT came from Vietnam.
These volumes helped serve the growing coal requirements in the Philippines by the power-generation sector, which consumed 10.58 million MT, while the cement industry used up 3.1 million MT. Industrial users required 550, 838 MT of coal last year.
Meanwhile, publicly listed Semirara Mining Corp., the country’s biggest coal producer, was able to export 2.74 million MT last year, of which 98 percent, or 2.68 million MT, went to customers in China while the remaining 54,754 MT were sold to buyers from Thailand, DoE documents showed.
It is expected that over the next 20 years, coal will remain the major fuel for power generation, prompting the government to encourage the private sector to explore and develop the country’s prospective coal blocks to find additional reserves that can be used to address growing local demand for coal.
And by harnessing its own resources, the Philippine government also believes that it will be able to push for energy independence that will allow it to reduce its fuel imports as well as lessen its vulnerability to global price fluctuations.
In December 2011, the DoE launched the fourth Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) for coal, in which it offered to investors 30 prospective coal blocks. These are located in Quezon, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Occidental Mindoro, Oriental Mindoro, Negros Occidental, Cebu, Bohol, Agusan del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Sur, Compostela Valley, Davao Oriental, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga Sibugay.