Aboitiz-Marubeni team vying for Chevron assets in RI, the Philippines

Aboitiz group of the Philippines plans to team up with Japanese business house Marubeni to bid for the geothermal assets of American energy giant Chevron Corp. in the Philippines and Indonesia, a deal that can give the local group greater regional footprint, a local report said on Saturday.

Luis Miguel Aboitiz, chief operating officer and executive vice president at Aboitiz Power Corp., was quoted by philnews.org as saying the group was interested in the Asian geothermal assets to be unloaded by Chevron.

?It?s renewable. We?re already in geothermal and we like Indonesia. We think Indonesia has lots of potential,? Aboitiz told reporters.

Aboitiz said the auction was being structured in such a way that these Asian assets would be sold as one block. As such, he said the Aboitiz group would tie up with Marubeni on this big undertaking.

Chevron is unloading its geothermal assets in Indonesia and the Philippines with estimated value of $2.5 billion this month, industry sources said. In Indonesia, Chevron plans to announce the winning bidder for its Darajat and Salak geothermal working areas in West Java with combined capacity of 647 MW, Petromindo.com reported in July.

Other Philippine groups?Ayala Corp. and Energy Development Corp.? are likewise keen on getting a piece of Chevron?s geothermal assets, philnews.org said.

In the Philippines, Chevron has a 40-percent interest in Philippine Geothermal Production Co. Inc. (PGPC), which develops and produces steam energy for third-party-owned and -operated Tiwi and Mak-Ban geothermal power plants in Southern Luzon with a combined generating capacity of 692 megawatts. The remaining 60 percent stake in PGPC is held by the Sy family of the SM group.

Chevron also has interest in the Kalinga geothermal prospect area in northern Luzon. (*)