The Philippines recorded lower production of oil and natural gas condensate fuel in 2019 but noted improvements in the production of natural gas, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).
Based on data released by DOE, 776,093 barrels of oil was produced last year, down 38.5 percent from 1,263,526 barrels in 2018.
Most of the local oil was sourced from the Galoc oil field in Palawan which contributed 74,449 barrels last year, down by 93.6 percent from its production of 1,166,755 barrels in 2018.
The rest came from other fields also in Palawan including Nido and Matinloc, aside from the Alegria oil field in Cebu.
Malampaya produced 155,690.47 million standard cubic ft. (mmscf) of natural gas last year, slightly up by 0.7 percent from 154,621.87 mmscf in 2018, the DOE said.
The Malampaya gas field also produced 4,006,235.55 barrels of natural gas condensate in 2019, 1.4 percent lower than 2018’s 4,061,457.27 barrels.
Earlier, the DOE through its Energy Resource Development Bureau said some applications for exploration in oil and gas resource areas are still on hold due to ongoing discussions with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Five applications are recommended for awarding of petroleum service contracts but two of these are on hold due to ongoing bilateral discussions with BARMM to ensure that offers from investors will also be acceptable to the local counterparts of the DOE in the region.
The DOE said the applications were part of the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program wherein interested investors can apply for service contracts via bidding for pre-determined areas or by nomination of their preferred areas.
The most recent oil exploration agreement awarded by the DOE was given in
2018 to Israeli firm Ratio Petroleum Ltd. for Area 4 located at the East Palawan Basin.
The contract allows the company to explore the area covering 416,000 hectares with a projected minimum total expenditure valued at $34.3 million to be derived from studies, data gathering and drilling activities over the initial seven-year contract duration.
