Philippines’ new gas find fuels energy diversification hopes

The Philippines’ first natural gas discovery in more than a decade has raised hopes of the fossil fuel playing a bigger role in its energy mix and further finds near an ageing field as it aims to lower its reliance on coal and oil.President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr announced on Monday that a “significant natural gas discovery” was made at a well known as Malampaya East-1, or MAE-1, about 5km (3.1 miles) from the existing Malampaya gas field off the coast of Palawan.MAE-1 is estimated to contain about 98 billion cubic feet of gas, equivalent to around 15 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in a year, according to Marcos.“Initial test results show that the well flowed at 60 million cubic feet per day. This indicates the well has the potential to produce even more, confirming that it is a high‑productivity resource comparable to the original Malampaya wells,” Marcos said in a social media post.The project to tap MAE-1 is led by the Service Contract 38 consortium, spearheaded by Prime Energy, the gas discovery company owned by Filipino tycoon Enrique Razon, in partnership with local energy firms UC38 and PNOC Exploration Corporation, as well as Kuwait-based Prime Oil and Gas Inc.The volume of 98 billion cubic feet of gas at MAE-1 was equivalent to about one-third of the remaining volumes in the Malampaya gas field, Prime Energy said in a statement.