Thursday, December 13, 2012

Philippines:

Chevron Geothermal in Philippines Sells to Local Company (Manila Standard Today)

SM Investments Corp., the holding company of the SM Group of Companies, acquired a 60-percent stake in a geothermal unit owned by Chevron Corp., an executive of SM Investments said Wednesday night.

SM Investments purchased the majority of Philippine Geothermal Production Co., the wholly-owned unit of Chevron Geothermal Inc. that was formed to explore and develop geothermal energy sources in the country.

SMIC chief operating officer Jose Sio said Chevron Geothermal Inc. picked SMIC as partner to comply with the  ownership limit requirement of the Philippines Geothermal Law. Chevron will own the balance of 40 percent.

“Chevron is 100 percent owned by U.S. Chevron… There is a law that they have to reduce their ownership from 100 percent to 40,” Sio said.  He declined to provide details on the financial transaction.

Chevron is operating the steam fields of the Tiwi-Makban power geothermal plants in Laguna and Batangas under an agreement with state-owned National Power Corp.