Malampaya targets new gas supply by 2026

MANILA, Philippines — Prime Energy Resources Development is gearing up for the Malampaya Phase 4 drilling program next year as it aims to deliver new gas by 2026, a top executive said.

“The plan is to drill in 2025 for the new gas to come in 2026,” Prime Energy managing director and general manager Donnabel Cruz said over the weekend.

Prime Energy, the energy unit of Razon-led Prime Infrastructure, operates the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project, the country’s first and only indigenous gas resource in offshore Palawan.

Exploring and developing a late-life gas field such as Malampaya requires significant engineering feats, Cruz said.

“The pressure of the gas in the existing reservoir is going down, and the only way to increase production again is to drill new wells in the same reservoir. We’re more than ready to do it,” she said.

“Prime Energy wants not only to increase gas production but also to prolong the platform’s operational life through maintenance activities.”

In February, the company awarded US-based OneSubsea a contract for the supply of wellheads, control equipment and subsea production systems by the end of this year.

The equipment will be used to drill and tie in two new deep water wells in the Camago and Malampaya East fields to the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform.

The drilling program recently received support from Sen. Pia Cayetano, who visited the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform last week together with executives from Prime Infrastructure and Prime Energy.

Cayetano, who serves as chairman of the Senate committee on energy, has been pushing for the development of indigenous gas resources to ensure energy security and reliability.

“Reliability is (when you have) power 24/7, security is when you have access, and that is where indigenous (gas) comes in,” she said.

The country faces the challenge of ensuring energy supply for the next 20 years, with current provisions based on planning made roughly three decades ago, the senator said.

“It’s about planning long-term. That’s what I hope I can bring to the discussion and help by way of policymaking,” Cayetano added.

Prime Infrastructure president and CEO Guillaume Lucci, meanwhile, reaffirmed a commitment to supporting the government in the development of indigenous fuel resources.

This, he said, would be crucial to the country’s push toward renewable energy.

Malampaya Service Contract 38, which governs the Malampaya project, was extended for another 15 years or until February 2039.