Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday expressed his grave concern over the country’s power situation amid reports that Udenna Corp.’s Dennis Uy is considering selling his controlling stakes in the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project.
Gatchalian said this development casts uncertainty on the Philippine’s ability to have a secure energy source.
“With the expiration of Malampaya’s service contract in 2024, the depletion of the remaining reserves in the gas field by 2027, and now the possible sale of participating interests of Udenna in the country’s most important energy source--there’s so much uncertainty ahead of us insofar as our energy security is concerned. Are we looking at rotational brownouts again?” Gatchalian pointed out in a statement.
“I have proven myself right after all, over the apparent financial incapacity of Udenna’s subsidiaries that acquired the 45 percent stake of Chevron Philippines, Ltd. and 45 percent stake of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX),” said the senator, who has sought to be reelected to the Senate in the May 2022 elections.
Gatchalian had red-flagged the entry of Udenna Corp. in the operations of Malampaya due to reports of debt and cash problems as well as its technical incompetence.
Udenna’s Malampaya buyout hit a snag last December after the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), which owns 10 percent of Malampaya shares, withheld its consent to the transaction between SPEX and Udenna’s Malampaya Energy XP Pte. Ltd.
Malampaya, a critical energy asset, powers more than four and a half million homes and businesses in Mega Manila alone or six out of every 10 customers in Meralco franchise area.
It also contributes almost 20 percent of the entire country’s power generation mix.
Gatchalian also said Malampaya has provided the government a significant income totaling P290.76-billion from January 2002 until June 30, 2021.
“Lubhang nakababahala ito. Ang Malampaya ang kaisa-isang pinagkukunan natin ng natural gas sa bansa. Lumabas sa imbestigasyon ng Senado na baon sa utang ang nagmamay-ari ng Udenna bukod pa sa walang technical expertise sa ganitong klase ng negosyo (This is very worrisome. Malampaya is our only source of natural gas in the country. Investigations at the Senate show, however, that Udenna’s owner, is deep in debt and has no technical expertise to run this kind of business),” he pointed out.
“Nasabi ko na noon pa na kung mapapasakamay lang ng hindi maayos na kumpanya ang Malampaya, tayong lahat ang magiging dehado dito (I’ve warned about this before that if Malampaya falls under a company that do not know how to run it, we are all at a disadvantage),” the lawmaker said.