Gov't loses majority control of PNOC-EDC

The government has lost majority control of the Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development Corp. (PNOC-EDC) as its stake has been cut to 47 percent from the 60 percent it held when the company made its initial public offering earlier this year. Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said the privatization of PNOC’s geothermal arm is in line with the government’s efforts to prod private investors to infuse funds into the energy sector. Lotilla said P17.1 billion was raised from the sale of the government shares. The energy secretary also noted that a recently completed international roadshow showed continued interest among foreign buyers, which include major institutional investors in PNOC-EDC. Lotilla said he expects the speeding up of PNOC-EDC’s projects following the company’s privatization. “We know that the Bicol and Visayas regions are blessed with geothermal resources. We expect PNOC-EDC, now that it is privatized, to have greater flexibility in fast tracking its geothermal projects highlighted by the President in her 2006 State of the Nation Address to meet the increasing demand in these regions," Lotilla said. PNOC-EDC has lined an expansion of existing steamfields and the development of new ones totaling 330-380 megawatts of power in the next three to eight years. -GMANews.TV