Gulf Cogeneration Co Ltd

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Gulf Cogeneration Co Ltd, (Gulf Cogen.) was developing a 107-MW, US$85 million combined-cycle power plant at Kaeng Koi, Sara Buri. The project involves the construction of a 115kv interconnection line and a 22kv distribution system. Black & Veatch was the EPC contractor and the technical consultant. Gulf Cogen. was a subsidiary of Gulf Electric Public Company Limited (GEC), a joint venture between partially divested Electricity Generating Company (EGCO) of Thailand (50%), Japan Electric Power Development Company Limited (EPDC or J-POWER) (49%) and Mit Siam (1%). Gulf Electric was in turn originally a 50:50 joint venture comprising the local Lanna Lignite and Siam City Cement. However, in June 2000 EGCO bought Siam City Cement's 50% interest in the company while in October 2001 Lanna Lignite sold 49% of its 50% interest in Gulf Electric to Japan's J-Power and the remaining 1% to Japan's Mitsiam International. EGCO was set up in May of 1992 as a holding company to divest some of the assets of the state-owned Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). In November 1994, EGCO floated 204 million shares, or 51% of the company, at 22 baht each, raising US$178.5 million and effectively making it a privately run company. The shares made their debut on the Thai stock market in January of 1995. Although EGAT retained a 48% interest in EGCO, the company was to be run as a separate entity and was to be out of the EGAT's sphere. In July of 1998, Hong Kong utility firm China Light and Power Co. Ltd. (CLP Power) acquired a 14.9% stake in EGCO for US$241 million. As of 2004, the stake holders of EGCO were EGAT (25.41%), CLP Power (22.42%), Thai investors (30.09%), and foreign investors (22.08%). Financial closure on this project was reached in Febuary 1997 with the sourcing of US$79 million; and 100 bht million loans with 14-year maturities have been obtained from five local banks. The plant is being developed under the Small Power Producer (SPP) Program that encourages the sale of excess output to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). An 18-year PPA was signed with EGAT to sell 27-MW of the plant's output which is being sold to industrial customers. The nominal levelized tariffs are set at 1.60 bht/KWh. Gulf Cogeneration has signed an 18-year fuel supply agreement with the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, which commences during 1998. None None