‘Philippine Sea has massive gas deposits’

MANILA, Philippines - The natural gas deposits in the West Philippine Sea are so vast they could energize the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids for at least 20 years, a lawmaker said yesterday.

LPGMA party-list Rep. Arnel Ty, a member of the House energy committee, said the huge bank of cleaner fuel is one of the compelling reasons why the country has to secure its 200-mile exclusive economic zone and contiguous area, including the seabed of the continental shelf up to 350 miles from the national coastal baseline.

“We have to defend the zone against China and other foreign threats. In fact, we should invest in new warships, including frigates, missile gunboats and fast attack craft, for deployment to the zone. We should build a strong naval base in northwest Palawan,” he said.

The country’s territory in the West Philippine Sea is believed to have a number of Malampaya-like natural gas fields, he said.

He said the government should harness three more Malampaya-like fields to power up the whole country.

He said the country has discovered one of three similarly sized natural gas fields. It is just a question of exploring some more to ascertain where best to drill and draw out the greatest amount of gas, he said.

Ty was referring to the Recto Bank’s Sampaguita field, which is estimated to contain up to 4.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The field lies just 80 nautical miles northwest of Palawan.

He cited the tremendous economic as well as environmental benefits of developing the country’s indigenous natural gas resources, including huge foreign exchange savings because the country would be spending less dollars to import coal and oil.

He said since natural gas trades at a discount, electricity would be cheaper for all consumers, thus freeing up business and household incomes for other expenses.

Other benefits of natural gas are billions of pesos in new government royalties; energy security and economic stability for the country, without having to be troubled by potential power shortages; and the country’s air quality would improve in a big way due to reduced carbon dioxide discharges.

At present, some 34.40 percent of the country’s dependable power generating capacity is produced from coal; 19.07 percent from hydro resources; 17.66 percent from natural gas; 17.30 percent from oil (diesel and fuel oil); 10.28 percent from geothermal; and 1.29 percent from biomass, biodiesel, solar and wind, according to the Department of Energy.

Malampaya has proven reserves of about 3.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which is expected to last until 2024 to 2030, depending on how aggressively the fuel is harvested.

As of March 2015, the Philippine government has received over P208 billion in royalties from Malampaya.

Based on geological surveys, the United States Energy Information Administration estimates that the West Philippine Sea may contain up to 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5.4 billion barrels of oil, “with the bulk of the resources likely located in the contested Reed Bank at the northeast end of the Spratlys.”