Natural gas to be extracted in Mindoro

Sunstar Davao
Monday, September 10, 2012

CALAPAN CITY -- An oil firm will start extracting natural gas in the southern part of Mindoro Island early next year, the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug said the seismic survey relative to this is expected to be completed on or before December, adding that the actual drilling of natural gas will immediately follow by early 2013.

Renewable energy sources in the Philippines offers “enormous possibilities,” Italian Ambassador Luca Fornari said last Friday. He cited the energy potential of Oriental Mindoro province “which will fuel the needed spark for the country’s economy.”

The Italian ambassador, together with DOE’s Layug, was here as special guest during the groundbreaking to start construction of the phase 1 of the 48-megawatt (MW) wind power project in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

Wind power was the biggest and first wind power project under the Aquino administration and the first of such kind that broke ground under the newly-approved Renewable Energy Law in the Philippines, Layug said.

Acknowledging the renewable energy potential of Mindoro Island, Fornari said the Wind Energy Power System (Weps) project in Puerto Galera will boost supply of electricity to Mindoro once fully operational.

The 48-MW project located in Barangay Baclayan, Puerto Galera, owns the distinction of being supported jointly by both the national, Italian and Spanish governments.

Sitting on a 1,296-hectare land overlooking the Verde Island Passage, the project will be constructed, developed and managed together by Italian power firm CMC Asia, Spanish contracting firm Gamesa Eolica S.L. Unipersonal and the Philippine Hybrid Energy System Inc. (Phesi).

It has three phases, each costing P2 billion per component, or a total of P6 billion, and with an expected generating capacity of 16 MW of electric power.

Layug said during the groundbreaking ceremony that the survey being conducted by private company Pitkion Petroleum Plc., as part of its service contract with the DOE, covers about 20,000 square kilometers on- and offshore areas in the southern Mindoro Island.

With the discovery and the upcoming drilling operation of natural gas in Mindoro, Representative Rodolfo G. Valencia said the island can now compete with other provinces, in terms of power and economic development.

“We have already identified about 300 MW of renewable energy sources, such as hydro, wind, and geothermal,” Valencia said. (PIA)    source