By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, May 6 (PNA) -–Energy Development Corp. (EDC) is set to start drilling a geothermal well in Mariposa, Chile on October 2015, to assess the steam availability.
”We are undertaking the first major international drilling campaign of EDC in October this year in Chile,” EDC Vice President and Managing Director for Latin America Arman Lapus told reporters on Wednesday.
Lapus said the firm would drill two to three wells this year to assess the availability of steam.
EDC will allocate Php 3.8 billion for the Mariposa drilling.
The firm sees higher earnings from its overseas projects in the long-run.
”Our international projects will fuel our growth in the long term. We started probing one of our most promising concession sites in Chile and we are confident about seeing the positive results of these probes,”Chief Financing Officer Nestor Vasay said.
EDC’s projects in Chile and Peru, with Alterra Power Corp., will earn the Filipino-company 70 percent of the interest for funding USD 58.3 million of the Mariposa geothermal project’s expenditures and USD 8 million for the Peruvian concessions.
For both Chile and Peru, EDC has stakes in five concessions and has filed 19 other applications.
Lapus said the Peruvian projects had been narrowed down to four or five concessions.
He said EDC was still seeking a partner for the Peru-based projects, but he did not see that the project would move this year.
EDC and Alterra Power Corporation signed a joint venture agreement in May 2013, to develop Alterra’s Mariposa geothermal project in Chile and three other geothermal concessions held by the Canadian company in Peru.
Alterra is a Toronto-listed renewable energy company, having built wind farms, geothermal plants and run-of-river hydro plants.
In another development, EDC said it has already completed the survey activities in GrahoNyabu, Sumatra. It will be used by the Indonesia Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for an upcoming offer for the GrahoNyabu concession. (PNA)