Royalties remitted to DOE in Q1 hit record–Semirara

BY LENIE LECTURA – MAY 30, 2022
from Business Mirror

Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) said Monday it has remitted P5.9 billion in royalties to the Department of Energy (DOE) in the first quarter.

This is the highest amount remitted by the power firm to date.

The first-quarter remittance is an 807-percent increase from the P656 million that SMPC paid during the same period last year. All-time high coal shipments and average selling prices account for the record-setting government share.

“We had an exceptionally strong start, so much so that in three months, we surpassed our previous full-year royalty payments,” said SMPC President Maria Cristina Gotianun.

In 2021, SMPC paid a total of P5.4 billion to DOE as improved coal output and favorable market conditions allowed the company to ship more coal at elevated prices.

Of the P5.9 billion remitted by SMPC, more than P3.5 billion will be retained by the national government.

In accordance with the law, the rest will go to the host local government units of the SMPC mine site. The province of Antique will receive P476 million while the municipality of Caluya and Barangay Semirara will receive around P1.1 billion and P833 million, respectively.

The Local Government Code of 1991 entitles local government units to a 40 percent share of royalty proceeds from petroleum, coal, geothermal, hydrothermal and wind resources.

In February, SMPC reported that it posted a record net income of P16.2 billion in 2021. The figure is a 393-percent leap from the previous year’s P3.3 billion, 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.

Contributions from the coal segment grew by 535 percent to P11.4 billion from P1.8 billion while its power subsidiaries delivered improved performances.

SMPC is the only vertically-integrated power generator in the country that produces its own fuel. As the largest domestic coal producer, it supplies affordable fuel to power plants, cement factories and other industrial facilities across the Philippines.