THE Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday said it was monitoring the progress of other new wells in the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power Project in the West Philippine Sea following the discovery of new reserves.
Camago-3 and Bagong Pag-asa-1 are two of three new gas wells being developed under Malampaya Phase 4, an $893-million drilling campaign aimed at extending the life of the country’s only domestic natural gas source.
The project seeks to secure energy independence for the Luzon power grid, a goal that has come closer to being achieved after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday announced the discovery of gas at the nearby Malampaya East-1 (MAE-1) well.
Camago-3 has a potential estimated haul of 100 to 110 billion cubic feet of natural gas, Energy Undersecretary Alessandro Sales said.
Bagong Pag-asa-1, meanwhile, is an exploration well 50 kilometers from the main Malampaya facility. It is considered a high-potential site, estimated to hold between 400 to 800 billion cubic feet of gas.
Project managers want the two wells to compensate for the declining output of existing wells, with “first gas“ delivery by the fourth quarter, the DOE said.
The discovery of natural gas at MAE-1 — the first in the country in over a decade — is seen to boost the field’s remaining recoverable volumes by an estimated 30 percent, extending the life of the project.
“Driven by the president’s marching order for energy security, this discovery was delivered in record time. This will be marked in history as the first 100-percent Filipino-led indigenous gas venture,” Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said.
The DOE will be regularly reviewing and updating policies to make them more responsive to the technology, trends, and needs of the upstream petroleum industry, as energy exploration ramps up in the country, Garin added.
The Malampaya project is operated by the Service Contract (SC) 38 Consortium, composed of Prime Energy Resources Development B.V. (40 percent), a subsidiary of Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. owned by Ricky Razon Jr.; UC38 LLC (45 percent), a subsidiary of Udenna Corp.; PNOC Exploration Corp. (10 percent), the government’ energy exploration arm; and Prime Oil and Gas Inc. (5 percent), another entity under the Prime Infrastructure group.
The consortium’s contract was renewed in 2023 for 15 years, extending its mandate until February 2039.
The government has so far awarded nine major service contracts, which cover the continuous production of the Galoc Field in Palawan, as well as high-potential areas in the West Philippine Sea and the Sulu Sea.
The Galoc Field is a conventional oil field in the West Philippine Sea, about 60 kilometers northwest of Palawan. It is the country’s largest domestic source of crude oil.
