Natural gas discovered at Malampaya East 1 —Marcos

President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Monday announced the discovery of natural gas reservoir in the Malampaya Field, which aims to strengthen the country's gas supply in the coming years.  

In a video message, Marcos said the discovered reservoir, called Malampaya East 1 or MAE-1, is located about five kilometers east of the existing Malampaya Field. It is estimated to contain around 98 billion cubic feet of gas in place. 

''Katumbas nito ang halos labing apat na bilyong kilowatt hour ng kuryente sa isang taon. Ibig sabihin, makakapagsuplay ito ng kuryente sa mahigit 5.7 milyong kabahayan, siyam na libo’t limang daan na gusali, o halos dalawang daan libong paaralan sa loob ng isang taon,'' Marcos said. 

(This is equivalent to almost 14 billion kilowatt hours of power in one year. That means it can supply power to more than 5.7 million households, 9,500 buildings, or almost 200,000 schools in one year.)

Marcos said that based on the initial testing, the well flowed at 60 million cubic feet per day, indicating that it has the potential to produce even more and that it is a high productivity resource compared to the original Malampaya wells. 

''Aside from the natural gas, the discovery also includes condensate, which is a high-value liquid fuel,'' Marcos said.

''This additional research can help support the government’s efforts for the stabilization of our power supply,'' he added. 

Filipinos lead in the drilling of this gas field, according to Marcos, noting that no untoward incident took place during the process. 

Marcos said that the MAE-1 is the first milestone under the Malampaya Phase 4 drilling campaign, which also includes the Camago-2 and the Bagong Pag-asa wells. 

''The next steps are the completion and testing of the Camago-3, followed by the drilling of the Pag-asa Exploration well to pursue more potential gas resources,'' Marcos said.

He said this achievement was made possible through the work of the SC-38 Consortium, led by Prime Energy, in partnership with UC-38, PNOC Exploration Corporation, and Prime Oil and Gas Incorporated.

''Patunay ito na sa responsabling pangangalaga sa kalikasan at matibay na pagtutulungan ng gobyerno at pribadong sektor, makakamit natin ang mas maasahang supply ng enerhiya para sa bawat Pilipino,'' Marcos said.

(This just goes to show that through responsible protection of the environment and strong cooperation between the government and private sector, we can attain having reliable power supply to benefit each Filipino.) —KG, GMA Integrated News