By Lenie Lectura – August 17, 2017
from Business Mirror
PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PERC) reported a 180-percent jump in net income at end-June this year to $6.55 million, from $2.34 million in the same period last year, mainly brought about by the strong performance of its renewable-energy (RE) projects.
PERC noted higher income contribution from its 20-megawatt (MW) Maibarara Geothermal Power Project in Batangas, the 36-MW Nabas Wind Power Project in Aklan, and the 50-MW Tarlac Solar Power Project in Tarlac.
Total electricity exported from the three plants rose to 174,810 megawatt-hours in the first half of 2017 compared with 152,898 MWh in same period last year.
“Our RE facilities are showing good results in terms of energy yield and operational efficiencies. We are optimistic that if we are able to sustain this performance, we will be on track to achieve our full-year targets,” PERC President Milagros V. Reyes said.
The company’s subsidiary, Maibarara Geothermal Inc., expects commercial operations of its 12-MW Maibarara-2 expansion before end of this year.
PERC’s Maibarara-2 expansion is currently the only active geothermal facility being constructed in the Philippines. PERC also supplies 8.4 percent of wind-power and 7.1 percent of solar-power capacities in the entire country.
Earlier, it obtained the environmental clearance for its Puerto Princesa Solar Power Project (PPSP), which will be the first utility-scale green power project in the whole of Palawan.
The company also attributed its strong performance to the slightly higher average crude-oil prices, with average price reaching $50.38 per barrel for the first half of 2017 compared with $35.59 per barrel in the same period last year.
PERC’s petroleum asset in Gabon West Africa produces 16,000 barrels of oil per day from four producing fields. “We continue to develop a pipeline of modest-sized RE projects in high-demand or poorly served areas because we believe this is the fastest way to add much-needed power capacity for the country, while ensuring shorter payback period for our investments,” PERC Vice President Francisco Delfin Jr. said.