‘Semirara has enough coal stocks’

BY LENIE LECTURA – MAY 3, 2022
from Business Mirror

As coal demand and prices intensify, Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) said Monday it won’t run out of coal reserves even if its coal operating contract (COC) expires in 2027.

During the company’s stockholders’ meeting, SMPC President Cristina Gotianun said the company was able to supply coal to new local buyers in the power and cement plants, such as San Miguel’s power plants in Masinloc, Limay, Malita and Petron; AboitizPower Therma Luzon Inc. and Therma South Inc.; Northern Cement and Goodfound Cement. Also, SMPC was able to develop new export markets, namely Korea, Cambodia and Brunei.

“At an annual coal production rate of 13 to 16 million metric tons, the company has enough coal reserves until the expiration of its coal operating contract in 2027,” she said.

In 2021, SMPC’s net income stood at P16.2 billion, a 393-percent leap from P3.3 billion the previous year, mainly due to an 8-percent rise in coal production, 16-percent jump in coal shipments and 71-percent surge in average coal selling prices.  “Our all-time topline and bottom line were mostly driven by the coal segment, which made a strong comeback in 2021,” Gotianun said.

It was a different story for SMPC’s power business as operational challenges persisted in 2021. The underperformance of its power segment was mainly attributable to Unit 2 of Sem-Calaca Power Corp. (SMPC).

To recall, its generator stator broke down in December 2020 after only seven months of use. While it resumed operations in September last year, it did so at a derated capacity of 225MW.