Oil drillings in Cebu still going on, says DOE exec

CEBU CITY — The Department of Energy (DOE) said oil explorations in Cebu are still going on.

Eduardo Amante, chief of the energy resource development and utilization division of the DOE regional office, said their Manila office would soon announce the commercial viability of the oil deposits being explored.

In the southern part of Cebu, he said drilling has reached as deep as 6,000 feet but they cannot yet determine the volume of gas deposits.

"As of the moment, 6,000 feet na ang naabot sa drilling and they would be doing some testing works and we do not know what would be the outcome," he said.

Amante said he cannot yet give any data as to the commercial viability of the fields being explored.

"I am not in the position to say it because this has something to do with the stock market, it might be interpreted as favorable or what. We will just wait for the official announcement of the DOE (Manila)," he said.

At present, at least five oil explorations are being conducted in the Visayas. These include the drillings in Tañon Strait, Bohol Strait, central and southern Cebu and northwestern Leyte being undertaken by foreign-owned companies.

So far, however, only Forum Exploration has found gas reserves in its Libertad gas field in Bogo, Cebu.

Amante said the DOE has determined the commercial viability of the gas field in Bogo, adding that the Libertad gas is viable on a small scale.

Once developed and operated, energy officials said Bogo would benefit from cheaper power and more revenues because there are plans to put up a power plant there.

Forum Exploration, the contractor of the project, will operate the power plant and sell electricity to the Cebu Electric Company.

Earlier, Energy Undersecretary Guillermo Balce said the Bogo natural gas is only second to the Malampaya gas field in Palawan in terms of volume.

He said Malampaya has deposits of up to 3.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which is being used to fuel power plants in Luzon.

On the other hand, the Bogo gas field has about one billion cubic feet that is enough to run a 1.75-megawatt power plant that Forum Exploration plans to put up and operate this year. — Freeman News Service