Manila's Napocor says bidding for 100,000T coal fails

MANILA, March 18 (Reuters) - Top Philippine electricity
producer National Power Corp (Napocor) was unable to secure
100,000 tonnes of local coal for one of its power plants
following another failed tender on Wednesday, officials said.

The lone bidder, state-run firm PNOC-Exploration Corp
(PNOC-EC) (PEC.PS), fell short of the required bid bond of
42.284 million pesos ($872,555), said Edmund Anguluan, chairman
of the bidding committee.

"We terminated the bidding because of a technical error,"
he said.

Anguluan said the company is planning to hold another
tender but added that PNOC-EC has the option to have its offer
reconsidered.

Napocor failed to attract bids in December for the same
volume of local blended coal for its Naga-Cebu power station in
central Philippines after potential bidders found the company's
budget for the consignment too low.

Napocor had set a budget of 3,537 pesos per tonne,
including cost and freight, for the locally-sourced coal.

Last month, the power firm awarded 780,000 tonnes in coal
contracts to several Indonesian suppliers for shipment this
year.

($1 = 48.46 pesos)

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Valerie Lee)