An air force commander who conducted a study on the amount of oil deposits in the Spratly group of islands said the area was a “gold mine of untapped hydrocarbon deposits” with an estimated value of $26.3 trillion.
Brig. Gen. Eldon Nemenzo, deputy commander of the Philippine Air Force’s 3rd Air Division, said the oil deposits were mostly contained in the Recto Bank, also known as Reed Bank, and the Mischief Reef in the Kalayaan group of islands in the West Philippine Sea known as the Spratly’s.
“The Philippines is like a blind beggar sitting on a mountain of gold,” said Nemenzo whose research was submitted as a thesis requirement for an advance course in the Air Force’s Command and Staff College.
The Spratly’s is a group of more than 750 reefs, islets, atolls, cays and islands that lie off the coast of the Philippines and Malaysia. They contain less than four square kilometers of land area spread over more than 425,000 square kilometers of sea.
China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines claim ownership of the area. Other than the vast reserves of oil and natural gas, the Spratly’s is a rich fishing ground.
Nemenzo said the deposits were mainly located within the 200 nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone and the Philippine continental shelf, but the country could not tap into the deposits because of its dispute with other countries.
“Investors were hesitant because the government could not guarantee security,” Nemenzo said.
The oil deposits in the Spratly’s could reach 17.1 billion barrels, and the same figure was contained in a report made by China’s Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, he said.
A local company, Forum Energy, has made preparations for exploratory drilling in the Recto Bank, which officials said was scheduled to start this year or early next year.
Manuel Pangilinan, chairman of Philex Mining, the majority shareholder of Forum Energy, said the company was open to talks with Chinese companies for a possible partnership in the development of the Sampaguita gas field.
The gas field refers to the area awarded by the government to the company known as SC 72, which covers 8,800 square kilometers in the west Palawan offshore.
Pangilinan said extracting oil and gas at the Recto Bank would require an investment of about $2.5 billion, which explained why they were looking for an investor with expertise and marketing power.
“That is a solution. I think we should be talking to Chinese companies,” Pangilinan said when sought for commend on Thursday.
He said their exploratory drillings might be delayed because of the on-going tension between the Philippines and China.
“There’s always that possibility [of delay] because of political concerns. Issues are being raised between the Philippines and China, and there are other claimants. There’s a possibility of delay if Chinese gunboats appear on the horizon,” Pangilinan said.
Pangilinan said the rigs and survey ships they used for their exploration work were owned by other countries “and they don’t want to get involved in any kind of regional conflict, so they may leave.”
“We’d like to stick with our work program and schedule. We need to build up our resources as soon as possible. It takes a while to develop a gas field, like six to 10 years, so any delay will push that schedule back,” he said.
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said the Philippines started drilling five wells in the area in 1976 and “it was only in 2007 that other countries started asking questions.”
“We have records and proof, and that is precisely why we call the place Sampaguita,” Almendras said. -- Ben Cal
(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/April/27) source
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