Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star )
- July 13, 2020 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — State-run
Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is eyeing to have a
more active role in harnessing the country’s oil, gas and coal resources as the
government pushes for more exploration and development of our indigenous energy
resources.
In a virtual webinar last week,
PNOC-EC president and CEO Rozzano Briguez said the company is looking forward
to successful exploration in new petroleum and coal areas.
In the petroleum sector, it is
pursuing new oil and gas discoveries aimed to augment the declining Malampaya
reserves.
Briguez said this includes a new
onshore gas field possibly in Service Contract (SC) 37 in the Cagayan Basin.
“PNOC EC plans to drill an
exploration well in SC 37. If it turns out to be a commercial discovery, PNOC
EC will prepare a gas to power project, similar to San Antonio, with a power
plant development,” he said.
The Philippines started producing
natural gas in the San Antonio Gas Field in 1995 until 2008.
Now, the country’s main source of
natural gas is the Malampaya gas field located in offshore Palawan, which
started operating in 2001.
Briguez also said PNOC EC intends to
pursue collaboration with other institutions and companies to further study
Philippine sedimentary basins to assess their petroleum potential given new
information and advances in technology.
“The main objective is to open up
new areas for exploration by ensuring that the country’s geologic sedimentary
basins are well-studied and properly marketed to possible investors,” he said.
PNOC-EC hopes to pursue exploration
in new service contracts, including areas in Cotabato, Cagayan, East Palawan
and the West Philippine Sea, and other prospective areas being offered by
Department of Energy (DOE) under the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting
Program (PCECP).
As for its prospects under force
majeure, Briguez said the company is also looking forward to the resolution of
the maritime disputes between China and the Philippines as this will lead to
the resumption of petroleum operations for SC 58, SC 59 and SC 75 and boost exploration
and development of hydrocarbon resources in the vast West Philippine Sea.
For the coal segment, the PNOC-EC
chief will prioritize projects with higher projected revenue or fastest return
on investment (ROI).
“Thus, we will be focusing on the
development and production of mines in coal operating contract (COC) 41, and
the development of the coal mine-mouth power plant project in COC 122,” Briguez
said.
COC 41 is within the Malangas Coal
Reservation in Zamboanga Sibugay, with the Lumbog Coal Project covering an area
of about 170 hectares with a mineable reserve of 1.4 million metric tons (MT),
with a mine life of eight years. The project has a projected 200,000 tons
annual production.
Located in the Province of Isabela,
COC 122 has proven reserves of over million MT of lignite coal in a minable
area covering about 2,000 hectares, which is enough to fuel a 100 megawatts
(MW) mine-mouth power plant for 25 years.
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