BAKUN-RIGTH TIME TO TAKE-OFF

TNB SAYS GOVERNMENT SHOULD GIVE SUPPORT FOR BAKUN - Assignment 12/11/2008

Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) said the government should give full support to the Bakun hydroelectric dam project for it to be feasible and really take-off.
 
Its chief executive officer, Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh, said the concern was to ensure that  the selling price of power by Bakun to Tenaga would remain at an affordable level.

Che Khalib also said that the timing was right to lock in the project as the global economic slowdown had resulted in lower prices of essential raw materials for the project.

I think is a good time for TNB to lock in because metal prices has came down almost half for example. Copper prices came down over the last 3 month by almost 50 percent of high from 8000 high to almost 4000 now.
Super: Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh \CEO\Tenaga Nasional Berhad

Che Khalib was speaking at a press conference held in conjunction with the International Energy Security Forum in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
 
On the company's financial performance, he said it would likely be affected by the rising coal prices.
 
Definitely affect our bottom line, definitely, I have nothing to hide here, If it continues to be high  at 120 US dollar definitely we continue to see losses.
Super: Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh \Chief Executive Officer\Tenaga Nasional Berhad

Currently, the price of coal ranged from 100 to 120 US dollars per tonne.
 
And Tenaga Nasional had already secured  its coal supply until December 2009.
 
TNB registered a lower net profit of 2.59 billion ringgit for its financial year ended Aug 31, 2008 (FY08) compared to its forecast of 3.14 billion ringgit.
 
Losses in the fourth quarter was due to forex loss, higher fuel costs and slowing demand.