DOE: Another Malampaya possible project

Under its current petroleum exploration round, the  Philippines has the possibility to discover another natural gas field alike to the landmark $4.5-billion Malampaya deep-water-to-gas project in offshore Palawan.

Energy Undersecretary Zenaida Monsada said in an interview that there are areas offered under PECR 5 that have the potential of becoming another Malampaya project. She said that if the exploration becomes successful, there will be several areas have resource potential that can exceed Malampaya’s reserves.

The Malampaya, discovered in 2002, has reserves of 3.2 trillion cubic feet.

Monsada heads a team comprising lawyers of the Energy Department, geologists and ranking officials for the Philippines’ participation in this year’s American Association of Petroleum Geologists International Conference Exhibition held at the city’s Istanbul Congress Center.

The exhibition is organized as the third leg of the Energy department’s international road show to attract global investors to bid for petroleum areas offered under PECR 5.

The PECR is a clear and competitive system for awarding system contracts. It is regularly  held by the DOE. Its goal is to showcase the petroleum exploration opportunities and to attract energy foreign investors to improve the country’s local oil and gas resources.

The PECR 5 offers 11 areas for petroleum exploration that are  mostly located in Luzon and 15 areas for coal exploration, mainly focused in Mindanao.

Monsada is optimistic that the current exploration round would attract more investors because the data provided to potential bidders are now digitized letting the investors easier to study. Highlighting the importance of discovering local energy, said the government is hopeful that the current round would generate robust interest among international investors.