business The Manila Times TUESDAY


Govt eyes Malampaya gas to run deactivated plants


BY EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO REPORTER T


HE Department of Energy may tap unused gas from the Malampaya field to fuel decommissioned diesel plants and boost electricity at the Luzon grid.


“The intention really is to move it, to dispose of it because it is an existing asset,” said Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, in reference to banked gas from the Malampaya. “The idea also is to hopefully have a master plan of how to bring gas from wherever it is to Metro Manila. And the plan has to do with retrofitting some of the generat- ing plants, the bunker fuel/diesel plants, to run on gas,” he said. The banked gas pertains to un- used fuel from the Malampaya that the government already paid for under a take-or-pay deal. Industry sources said that govern- ment’s banked gas supply, which is


held by state-owned Philippine Na- tional Oil Co. (PNOC), would be enough to run a 250- to 300- mega- watt power plant.


Almendras said the government is looking at the decommissioned 850- megawatt Sucat thermal plant and the still-running 650-megawatt Malaya thermal power plant as potential us- ers of the banked gas. Both facilities are on the state’s auction block. “One old suggestion that is being discussed now is we have to sell Sucat and Malaya. If you can bring gas to Sucat then hopefully it improves the price of that thing. If you can put a pipe under the Laguna lake to cross


Insular Life expects better financial results


INSULAR Life Assurance Co. Ltd. said it sees better financial results for this year on the back of the Philippines’ economic recovery and renewed con- fidence in the new government. The first and largest Filipino life insurance company said it projects consolidated net income to reach P2.2 billion to P2.3 billion this year. “If our performance in July is any indication, we will definitely meet our minimum growth target of 20 percent. New business premiums in [July] already showed an 8-percent increase compared to 2009,” Vicente Ayllon, Insular Life chief executive officer, said. In the first seven months, it al- ready surpassed the one-billion mark in new business premiums. “Growth was registered in all prod-


uct lines and premium distribution between traditional and nontra- ditional products showed a better balance. Of particular note was a strong recovery in investment-linked product sales,” the company said. It posted a consolidated net in- come of P2.12 billion last year amid the domestic economic slowdown. Total consolidated revenues went up to P12.6 billion, the bulk of which came from an increase in gross earned premiums reaching P7.5 billion, as well as investment income and other recurring income streams of P5.2 billion.


Insular Life’s assets reached P63.3 billion, or 9-percent higher than the previous year. Total members’ equity also increased by 10 percent to reach P14 billion.


LAILANY P. GOMEZ


Atlas unit completes 11th copper shipment


ATLAS Consolidated Mining and De- velopment Corp. reported on Mon- day the successful completion of its eleventh shipment of copper concen- trates for this year through its subsidi- ary Carmen Copper Corp. (CCC). In its disclosure to the Philip- pine Stock Exchange, Atlas said the concentrates, which were shipped on August 7, were produced from the Carmen copper mine in To- ledo, Cebu.


The shipment had a total volume


of 5,017.457 wet metric tons (WMT) and contained 28.04-percent copper, 2.55 grams gold per dry metric ton (DMT), and 23.28 grams silver per


DMT based on preliminary assays. The shipment, which constitutes


CCC’s 24th since December 2008, has an estimated value of $10.1 mil- lion and is consigned to LS Nikko Copper Inc. of Seoul, South Korea. The remaining concentrate stock at the Sangi port storage bins with an estimated volume of 5,000 WMT is being prepared for the next ship- ment which is tentatively sched- uled on August 13.


During the first seven months this


year, CCC shipped a total of 48,807.181 DMT of copper concen- trates to smelters in China and South Korea. JAMES KONSTANTIN GALVEZ


China Bank earnings grow on lending income


CHINA Banking Corp. said its profit for the first half of the year grew on the back of improved income from its lending business.


In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, China Bank said it registered a profit of P2.11 billion in the first six months, up 8.64 per- cent from P1.95 billion in the same period last year. The growth was brought about by the 8.04-percent improvement in net interest income to P4.23 billion, as lower interest revenues was off- set by lower interest expense. The bank said gross loans grew


11.34 percent, fueled by lending to corporates and commercial accounts. Trading gains grew 7.98 per- cent, while gains from sale of ac- quired assets surged 138 percent to P119 million.


“The first half results reflected a


wait-and-see stance for many sec- tors and the challenging banking environment. We are very much aware of the potential pitfalls of the global economic recovery, but we remain optimistic in our outlook for long-term success,” Peter Dee, China Bank president and chief executive officer, said. The lender’s total resources stood at P232.55 billion, while total de-


posits at P191.95 billion.


It said that its gross loan portfo- lio reached P103.65 billion, while its non-performing loans ratio im- proved to 4.35 percent. “With sufficient coverage for probable losses already in the books and highly collateralized loans, the bank booked lower loan loss provi- sions of P295 million, bringing its loan loss coverage ratio to 122.5 percent,” China Bank said. Total capital funds stood at P28.65 billion, while its Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 13.39 percent and total CAR at 13.9 percent.


China Bank has 255 branches


nationwide, including branches of China Bank Savings, which it plans to expand to 400 by 2011. Complementing this branch net-


work are electronic banking chan- nels for day and night banking serv- ice such as China Bank TellerCard ATM, China Bank Online (mobile and internet banking), and China Bank TellerPhone (phone banking). The bank also launched China Bank WebTalk, the internet-to- phone call service, and China Bank EZ Pay Kiosk, which accepts tax pay- ments for all revenue districts. LAILANY P. GOMEZ


then the economics of Malaya also improves,” the Energy chief said. The government, however, would


have to iron out a number of issues before it can proceed with the pro- posal, starting with tax concerns on the use of the banked gas. Another issue is putting up the required infrastructure to bring the fuel to Metro Manila.


Almendras said he already wrote to the Bureau of Internal Revenue with regard to the first matter. As for the second issue, the En-


ergy department is considering a proposal from the Lopez Group to


use the latter’s petroleum pipelines to transport gas to Metro Manila. “There was an offer from [First Philippines Industrial Corp.] to use their pipes. That is definitely being studied,” he said.


Aside from the Lopezes, a number of groups earlier expressed interest in putting up pipelines that will bring gas to Metro Manila from fuel terminals in Batangas and Bataan. They include listed Abacus Con- solidated Resources & Holdings Inc., PTT of Thailand, Japan’s Marubeni Corp., Gazprom of Russia and Petrochina Co. Ltd. of China.


B 3


August 10, 2010


Phoenix net income falls without one-off items


PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines Inc. suffered a double-digit drop in earnings in the first half in the ab- sence of one-off items arising from its acquisitions last year.


In a financial report, Phoenix said it posted a net income of P135.4 mil- lion in the first six months of the year, down 75.4 percent from the P551.2 million in the same period last year. The decrease in the company’s


profit was mainly brought about by the P497.2 million booked last year as the excess fair value of it acquisi- tion of Bacnotan Industrial Park Corp. (BPIC) in March 2009 from the Phil- ippine Investment Management Inc. Phoenix acquired BPIC at a cost of P658.8 million, which had an appraised fair value of P1.2 billion. BIPC is the operator of the Batangas Union Industrial Park (BUIP) located in Calaca, Batangas, which is being groomed by Phoe- nix as its storage hub in Luzon. For the first half of this year, Phoe- nix said revenues grew 179 percent to P6.2 billion from P2.2 billion last year. The company said sales vol-


ume grew 126 percent on account of the expansion of its retail outlets. “Furthermore, sales to commercial accounts which include customers in land transportation, power sector, ship- ping and airlines also registered signifi- cant increases,” the company said. Costs and expenses, however, went up nearly three-fold to P5.9 billion from P2.2 billion over the same period be- cause of an increase in fuel prices. Phoenix is primarily engaged in


the downstream oil industry. The company is into wholesale trading of refined petroleum products, lu- bricants and other chemical prod- ucts. It also operates oil depots and storage facilities and allied services in the Southern Philippines. It is the only oil firm to list in the bourse after the downstream petro- leum industry was deregulated over a decade ago. As of June 30, Phoenix had 131 retail stations, up from 120 at end- 2009. The company is growing its retail network to at least 160 sta- tions by the end of the year. EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO


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