President Aquino receives $1.1-B Malampaya dividend

During the symbolic handover of the Malampaya project’s revenue contribution to the National Government for the year 2011, Aquino accepted a mock check containing the amount of $1.135 billion from Shell Philippines country manager Edgar Chua.

President Aquino received yesterday more than $1 billion as the Philippine government’s share in the Malampaya gas-to-power project, considered as one of the largest and most significant industrial endeavors in the country’s history.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, who witnessed the turnover, said the amount was part of the government’s share from the Malampaya project, a joint venture by the government and the private sector.

The Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project is a joint undertaking of the Philippine government and the private sector. The project is spearheaded by the Department of Energy, developed and operated by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) on behalf of joint venture partners Chevron Malampaya LLC and the PNOC Exploration Corp.

Almendras added that the share is given annually from the total earnings of the project.

He said the amount would go directly to the Malampaya fund being managed by the Department of Finance.

Almendras also expressed hopes that the government would receive the same amount in the coming years if the price and quantity of produce would stabilize. However, the government’s shares would decrease if it would reinvest in Phases 2 and 3 of the project.

“Hopefully, the supply will continue so that’s the same amount of shares and if the price stays as it is that should be the quantity that we should be getting,” Almendras said.

“The only time that it will go down is when we reinvest…This is still the original contract and not the extension yet, there’s a Phase 2 and 3 which will require us to invest so that we can get more gas and prolong the supply of gas because we need gas as much as we can,” he added.