The Palawan Report

By Redempto Anda
Palawan Sun Feature
Date Published : April 3, 2008

Negotiations to establish Palawan’s initial venture on jatropha plantation and biofuels development involving a Philippine company and a major Spanish group, Bionor Transformacion, has hit a snag over financial arrangements.

An official of the Palawan Biodiesel Development Corporation (PBDC) told the Palawan Sun they have rejected a buy-in offer of the Spanish group Bionor Transformacion, because of perceived disadvantage.

PBDC, a company that has developed reportedly the country’s most successful variety of jatropha that is now being endorsed by PNOC, said they have rejected Bionor’s financial offer.

PBDC President Cesar Ventura however said that they have not yet closed the door on Bionor and have submitted a counter-proposal which seeks to put the Philippine company on even footing with its Spanish counterpart.

“I prefer entering into a joint venture with Bionor. The Spanish group however wanted to simply buy out our existing Korean partners under an arrangement where we will end up diluted,” Ventura said.

As a recourse, Ventura said his company is looking at going it alone with its existing technology to venture into local power generation, a demand that he said still makes their company commercially viable.

Sources with access to Bionor however clarified that the negotiations have not broken down and that the two companies continue to explore other modes of partnership.

“I’m definite there has been no falling out in the negotiations. I know that they are still talking about it,” a source with access to Bionor’s Philippine representative, AME Bioenergy Corp., said.

Bionor, which has signed a deal with PNOC to develop 100,000 hectares of jatropha plantation in the Philippines with an investment of $200 million, was earlier hoping to start with Palawan next month, banking on the success of PBDC to utilize the high-yielding CRV variety of jatropha tree.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, who came to Palawan Friday to launch the province’s bid in the fledgling bioenergy sector, noted the potential of the province to be self sufficient in energy using biofuels.

“Palawan can be an independent power producer using biofuel. The yield extraction here (for jatropha seedlings) in Palawan is 80 percent and that is the highest in the Philippines,” Reyes said.

Palawan has over 200,000 hectares of idle lands which, according to Governor Joel T. Reyes, they are committing to utilize not only for jatropha but also oil palm and rubber tree plantations.

Last Thursday, the Palawan provincial government entered into an agreement with PNOC to set aside an initial 30,000 hectares for jatropha plantations in Palawan.