SEN. Pia Cayetano, who chairs the Senate Committee on energy, has vowed to steer the passage of a bill that would set policy for the further development of Philippine natural gas.
The bill, the proposed Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry Development Act, is being deliberated on by Cayetano’s committee and is seen as key to the further exploration of natural gas for the country’s energy security.
During the recent hearing of the energy committee on the bill, Cayetano said the government has tagged natural gas, including those coming from the Malampaya field off Palawan province, as a transition fuel to fully renewable energy.
“Malampaya gas is our only indigenous source of natural gas,” Cayetano said. “It is important that we have policies that will support more exploration of natural gas because energy security depends on us having our own supply.
“We will be less dependent on international factors that affect the prices of our energy sources,” Cayetano said. “There’s no other way to discuss and envision our goal of achieving energy security and sustainability but through a future thinking lens.”
Cayetano recently toured the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform off Palawan, noting the impressive operations of the facility run by Filipinos. She added that the visit opened her eyes to the need for further exploration of indigenous gas because it is key to the country’s energy security.
“When we have our own source, that gives us more security. It’s very simple. If you ask me, that’s my priority,” Cayetano said.
The Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power project is the country’s first and only indigenous gas resource and supplies about 20 percent of Luzon’s electricity needs and has significantly contributed to the nation’s energy independence since 2001.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian lauded Prime Energy’s commitment to further explore Philippine natural gas resources.
“This is the first time I’m seeing true exploration. There are as many paper explorations,” Gatchalian said. “Remember, there are many press releases, they will explore. Many press releases, they will drill, after reading all those press releases for the past few years nothing happened.”
Gatchalian added there is a high chance of success that these projects, which are scheduled for next year, will push through.
“But I believe we now have a serious company, a serious player who will undertake actual drilling,” he said referring to Prime Energy, a subsidiary of Razon-led Prime Infra and operator of Malampaya.
“So I’m very happy to hear that there is a potential, there is now a potential, real activity in that area and real drilling will happen,” Gatchalian said.