Gov’t urged to expand PH natural gas sector
The Philippines should devote more resources into developing the natural gas sector as an environmentally sustainable means of fueling the growth of the economy.
This was according to the head of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (Spex), who urged stakeholders to undertake more drilling and exploration activities to ramp up natural gas production in the country.
In particular, Spex managing director Sebastian Quiniones noted that Philippine efforts in the natural gas sector paled in comparison with those of neighboring Indonesia.
“The Philippines is behind other Southeast Asian countries in terms of upstream exploration activities for natural gas,” he said at a recent energy forum. “Only 566 wells have been drilled in the Philippines in the last 100 years, compared to 400 wells drilled in Indonesia in just one year, according to the Petroleum Association of the Philippines.”
The recent Natural Gas Summit 2014—initiated by natural gas-powered countries Norway, Russia, Japan, The Netherlands, Great Britain and Spain, in collaboration with the Philippines’ Department of Energy (DOE)—brought together government and energy industry leaders to tackle the need for a more dynamic natural gas industry in the country.
This is meant to help power the country’s robust economic growth, which may hit 6.3 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.
At the forum, the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project was cited as a model for shaping the future share of natural gas into the country’s energy mix.
The birth and commercialization of Malampaya and the first natural gas policy established for the gas project were tackled in separate discussions by former DOE leaders: Dr. Francisco Viray, chief executive officer of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.; and Jose Victor Emmanuel de Dios, chief executive officer of General Electric.
Malampaya currently provides 30 percent of the Philippines’ energy needs. Natural gas is the preferred fuel for sustainable growth and development because it is abundant and cleaner than fossil fuel.
The gas project is now on its next phases of development, with Malampaya Phase 2 and 3 expected to maintain the current level of gas production and further support energy security for the country.
Quiniones said fueling unprecedented economic growth called for more investments in unlocking indigenous sources of sustainable power.
“The country needs some 300,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD), but local production only supplies 60,000 BOPD through the Malampaya Project, and about 10,000 BOPD from other smaller projects,” he explained.
Quiniones made recommendations to government to boost natural gas investments in the country, such as developing a favorable investment climate through the elimination of bottlenecks, more fiscal incentives, consistency in policy and regulations, improved infrastructure and strengthened government interagency collaboration through the Executive Order 60, or the Philippine Upstream Petroleum Task Force.
