Next Malampaya could be in Mindanao

By Maria Romero – September 24, 2021 01:45 PM
from Daily Tribune

Amid the impending depletion of the $4.5 billion Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project , authorities are racing against time to develop another natural gas field that can supply clean and cheap power for the country.

Jaime Bacud, Vice President for Upstream Operations of Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC), thus, proposed to develop Mindanao as “the next Malampaya.”

“We have plenty of untapped resources in the Philippines, with three sedimentary basins in Mindanao: one in Agusan, one in Cotabato, and one in the Sulu Sea,” Bancud said during a virtual event organized by Davao Investment Conference on Thursday.

“It could be where we can find the next Malampaya. This can be our way forward to energy independence and using indigenous energy sources as part of our energy plan,” he added.

Despite thinning reserves, Malampaya remains on the radar of the country’s largest energy players as its underwater pipeline and other infrastructure could be used to transport offshore gas from adjoining reservoirs.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi recently affirmed that “it is possible” to utilize the facility’s subsea pipeline to extract and transfer gas from the nearby West Philippine Sea to the onshore power plants in Batangas#

Cusi, however, noted the government has yet to conduct a further assessment on the use of the underwater pipeline as a submerged “toll road” to transport gas.

Malampaya currently supplies 30 percent of the energy requirements of the Luzon grid.