New oil, gas field discovered off Southern Cebu

MANILA, Philippines — A new gas and oil source will soon be tapped after the Department of Energy (DOE) declared the Alegria Oil Field in Southern Cebu to have commercial quantities of natural gas and oil resources.

In a statement, the DOE said Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi has signed the Joint Declaration of Commerciality (JDC) with service contractor China International Mining Petroleum Co. Ltd.

CIMP Co. Ltd. holds Petroleum Service Contract (SC) 49, which covers the Alegria Oil Field.

The DOE said exploration and drilling activities on the oil field by the service contractor started in 2009.

By 2016, the DOE and CIMP Co. Ltd. jointly established that the oil field contained commercial quantities of natural gas upon its discovery of oil accumulation in the adjacent hydrocarbon traps within the Alegria underground area.

The oil field is discovered to have an estimated 27.93 million barrels of oil (MMBO) with a possible production recovery of 3.35 MMBO or a conservative estimate of 12 percent of total oil in place/reserves.

For natural gas, about 9.42 billion cubic feet (bcf) reserves were found, with the recoverable resource estimated at 6.6 bcf or about 70 percent of total natural gas in place/reserves.

Based on the development plan crafted after the initial testing, the natural gas and oil production of the field may last until 2037.

The JDC outlined the roles and responsibilities of CIMP Co. Ltd., particularly its compliance with all conditions stated in the approved Plan of Development dated Dec. 19, 2017.

The project will provide the country a new oil and gas source since the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project – the country’s main source of natural gas – is seen to run out by 2024.

Malampaya currently supplies the LNG needs of three major gas-fired power plants in Luzon with a combined capacity around 3,500 megawatts (MW), namely the Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo, San Gabriel and Avion gas plants of the Lopez Group and Ilijan plant under San Miguel Group.