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EDC to drill three additional wells at Leyte as part of large capex program

EDC to drill three additional wells at Leyte as part of large capex program 193 MW Palinpinon geothermal plant, Leyte, Philippines (source: First Holdings, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 16 Aug 2018

As part of a larger capital expenditure program, Energy Development Corp. (EDC) is planning to drill three additional wells at its Leyte geothermal power plants in the Philippines.

As part of its reporting on the first half year results for 2018, Energy Development Corp. announces a capital expenditure program of up to P6.1 billion ($114 million) this year to boost reliability, efficiency and resiliency of its power assets, especially those hit by natural calamities, such as the typhoon in December 2017.  Of the total capex, the biggest component is allocated for drilling works of three wells in its geothermal asset in Leyte.

The company reported lower earnings in the first six months of the year as it reeled from the impact of natural calamities that hit its Leyte geothermal facility in the middle and toward the end of last year.

The company also posted a three percent decline in consolidated revenues to P17.1 billion.

“Our first half results, similar to what we communicated to the market during our Q1 earnings announcement, were largely dominated by the impact of Typhoon Urduja that hit Leyte island, site of our biggest business unit, in December,” EDC chief financial officer Nestor Vasay said.

Vasay said Leyte’s generation volume was down by 18.5 percent in the first six months of the year.

“However, we expect this downtrend to reverse in the second half of 2018, as our major power plants in Leyte are now back in service. We also see our operational efficiency initiatives starting to pay off,” Vasay added.

Source: PhilStar