Trans-Asia projecting 50% jump in 2012 profit

Phinma-led Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. is targeting a record-high profit for this year, with a projected 20-percent increase from last year’s net of P408.2 million.

This places the target net income for 2012 at about P490 million.

According to Trans-Asia Oil president Francisco L. Viray, the profit increase is expected to come from a bigger customer base that may be brought about by the commissioning of a power facility within this quarter and the implementation of the open access and retail scheme.

Viray said the 21-megawatt bunker power plant of the CIP II Power Corp., which was dismantled in January last year, would soon be ready to resume operations in Bacnotan, La Union.

The transfer of the power station to a new site will maximize its operating capacity as a merchant plant in northern Luzon and provide reliable embedded power to better serve Trans-Asia Oil’s long-term bilateral contract with Holcim Philippines Inc.

Also, in anticipation of the open access regime, which is expected to commence in September this year, Trans-Asia Oil has started consultations and negotiations with industrial firms eligible to participate in the retail electricity market.

Under the open-access regime, large power users will be able to choose their own electricity suppliers, unlike under the current system where they are limited to the supplier that has jurisdiction over their respective areas. Eventually, the scheme will be extended to the retail level, or households.

The company, according to Viray, is embarking more aggressively on new power projects with selected partners, with the belief that these investments will lay down a solid foundation for Trans-Asia Oil’s continued growth in the future.

Trans-Asia Oil and its partner, Ayala Corp.’s AC Energy Holdings Corp., are currently building a 135-MW coal-fired facility in Calaca, Batangas. The company also went into a joint venture with PetroEnergy Resources Corp. and PNOC Renewables Corp. for the 20-MW geothermal power project in Mt. Makiling, which is Trans-Asia’s first venture into geothermal exploration and development.

Also, Trans-Asia Oil chief finance officer Roberto M. Laviña earlier bared the company’s plans to embark on a P33-billion power generation projects over the next five years, in a bid to boost its generating capacity to 687 MW. The company’s equity share in the four proposed projects, which will be undertaken with various partners, is expected to reach P5 billion.

These projects included building a second 135-MW coal plant in Batangas; a second 20-MW geothermal unit in Mt. Makiling; a 135-MW coal project in North Mindanao; and the 54-MW Guimaras wind farm.