Philippines oil production slips in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine oil production fell in 2019 as two oil fields offshore northwest Palawan shut down.

Data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed the country produced a total of 776,093 barrels of oil last year.

The amount, however, is 39 percent lower than last year.

Most of the oil produced came from the Galoc oil field amounting to 744,449 barrels, which accounted for 96 percent of the total production.

The Galoc oil field, which is under Service Contract (SC) 14 C, is being operated by a consortium led by Galoc Production Co. WLL. It started production in October 2008.

Meanwhile, the Alegria oil field in Cebu produced 9,468 barrels as of the end of December, a 377 percent jump from 2018 when it started producing oil.

The Alegria oil and gas field, touted to be the first onshore oil discovery and production to date, was inaugurated by President Duterte in May 2018.

China International Mining Petroleum Co. Ltd., (CIMP) operates the oil and gas field under Petroleum Service Contract (SC) No. 49 for 25 years.

Last November, the agency announced the cessation of production operations of the Nido and Matinloc oil fields in northwest Palawan.

The two oil fields were under SC 14 A and B, and are operated by a consortium composed of Philodrill Corp., Alcorn Petroleum, Oriental Petroleum, Nido Production, Phinma Energy Corp. now AC Energy Philippines Inc., and Forum Energy Plc.

DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Nido and Matinloc have produced oil for over 40 years, producing 18.9 million barrels of oil (MMBO) and 12.5 MMBO, respectively. 

“Throughout their operations, these two oil fields have contributed significantly to our country’s energy needs. As this chapter comes to a close, we look forward to exciting times ahead as we continue our search for similar oil and gas projects that would help us attain energy security and fuel our continued development,” he said earlier.

The Nido oil fields started producing oil in February 1979, which marked the first commercial oil production in the Philippines.