Marcos to maintain enabling environment for energy cause

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos has vowed to maintain an enabling environment for energy exploration investments as he witnessed the first delivery of natural gas from newly developed drills and wells under the Malampaya Phase 4 project (MP4).

During the ceremonial first flow of gas at the Malampaya Onshore Gas Plant in Batangas City, Marcos said the country’s energy sector is very susceptible to geopolitical tensions, supply disruptions and price fluctuations.

The President stressed the need to explore and develop more local energy resources, especially renewable ones, noting that more than half of the Philippines’ energy supply came from abroad last year.

“Maximizing the use of Malampaya gas could contribute to more competitive power rates because we are relying less on imported energy sources that are subject to volatile international energy prices,” he said.

Marcos said the government has awarded 14 new petroleum service contracts covering oil, natural gas and native hydrogen exploration under his administration.

The energy department, he pointed out, has granted special allowances for service contractors involved in new plays, frontier areas and gas development in remote areas to lure more exploration activities in the country.

He also described Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc. chairman Enrique Razon as “one of the bravest people” he knows, saying the risk involved in such kinds of operation is “inestimable.”

The MP4 project involved drilling two deepwater wells and installing subsea infrastructure to link them to the existing Malampaya production platform.

With an investment of close to a billion dollars, the project added about 222 billion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas reserves that can generate some 31.46 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.

The electricity is enough to power 13.11 million Filipino households for a year.

The project marked the Philippines’ first offshore drilling campaign in more than a decade.

UN lauds Philippines commitment

The United Nations welcomed the Philippine government’s submission of the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreements that sets a 75 percent net reduction and avoidance target for greenhouse gas emissions.

The update also broadens the scope of the Philippines’ climate commitment. It includes forestry and other land use over 2025–2035 compared with projected cumulative emissions under a business-as-usual scenario.

The unconditional component, to be achieved using domestic resources and national capacities, is seven percent, compared with 2.71 percent in the 2021 NDC, which covered 2020–2030. A further 68 percentage points are conditional on international support such as climate finance, technology transfer and capacity-building.

Malampaya wells

The $893-million project to extend the life of Malampaya field offshore Palawan has reached another milestone, successfully delivering its first supply of indigenous natural gas.

The MP4 project has begun tapping gas from the Malampaya East-1 and Camago-3 wells, providing an additional source of supply at a critical time when the country is grappling with high power costs.

Greater use of Malampaya gas “could contribute to more competitive power rates because we are relying less on imported energy sources,” Marcos  said.

The Malampaya consortium, led by Prime Infrastructure Capital Inc., operates the Malampaya project under Service Contract 38 with the government. –Brix Lelis