Napocor awards coal supply contracts

The Philippines state utility National Power Corp. said Thursday it has awarded contracts for the supply of coal requirements of the Sual and Masinloc power stations.

The two supply contracts, worth around $20.2 million, were awarded to trading firm Baretech Ltd. of Hong Kong, which represents a Chinese coal producer, Napocor was quoted by Dow Jones as saying.

Baretech will supply 325,000 metric tons of coal for the 1,200-megawatt Sual plant in Pangasinan, a province north of Manila, and the 600-megawatt Masinloc plant in Zambales, also north of Manila.

The Sual contract was priced at $31.15/ton for a total of $10.12 million. The Masinloc contract was priced at $30.99/ ton for a total of $10.07 million.

Napocor has scheduled the bidding for a second batch of contracts in the second week of April.

It is set to offer a total of four batches of tenders to secure coal supply needs, estimated at 3.13 million tons, up to May 2004. (*)