Chevron renews fuel supply contract with Quezon Power
By Myrna M. Velasco – December 10, 2022, 10:55 AM
from Manila Bulletin
The Philippine subsidiary of American oil giant Chevron Corporation has renewed its contract with Quezon Power Phils Ltd. Co. (QPPL) for oil supply, an essential as start-up fuel for the 460-megawatt coal-fired power plant of the latter in Mauban, Quezon.
Coal-fired power generating facilities typically require liquid fuel for the start-up process in the resumption of plant operations, especially when they are coming from maintenance shutdown phase.
Frank Thiel, managing director of Quezon Power Philippines, narrated that their partnership with Chevron Philippines Inc. (CPI) dates back to 2015, ensuring of seamless supply with its contracted fuel requirements.
Given the seven-year business relationship they already cemented with the American company, Thiel noted “we are certain that it will only get stronger as we continue to work hand in hand to provide the power needed in Filipino households.”
The Quezon Power plant is a contracted independent power producer (IPP) of power distribution giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco), hence, its electricity generation is being wheeled into the load network of the utility company and shores up capacity for the Luzon grid.
The development blueprint of Quezon Power’s Mauban plant had been cast as the first build-own-operate (BOO) facility, thus, the project was brought to commercial fruition without any reliance on sovereign guarantee – and somehow, that was a diversion from the typical government-sponsored IPP projects in the 1990s.
Apart from the Mauban plant, Chevron indicated that it is similarly supplying fuel to the 500MW San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. (SBPL), a joint venture between Thai firm EGCO and Meralco PowerGen, the power generation subsidiary of Meralco. The facility is sited adjacent to the Mauban plant.
As emphasized by CPI Country Chairman Billy Liu, “Chevron deems it is the company’s responsibility to provide both organizations with quality fuel to make sure that both power plants operate without complications.”
He qualified “this is a valuable partnership to us and we are honored to support the commitment of QPP and SBPL to supply Filipinos with energy.”
The seamless operations of electric generating plants in the country are warranted, especially with the tight power supply condition that is now afflicting the main power grid of Luzon.
Next year’s summer months are being projected to be teetering on a “very dangerous territory” of power outages, therefore, it is very crucial that the owners and operators of power plants are well-supplied with fuel, including those that they will need to restart their operations.
