by Philippine News Agency January 2, 2016 (updated)
MANILA, Jan. 2 (PNA) — The Malampaya
offshore natural gas field in northwest Palawan will remain highly productive
for several more years but this early a senior member of the House of
Representatives wants concerned agencies to plan ahead and identify possible
uses for the two massive oil rigs in the West Philippine Sea once supply runs
out.
“The Malampaya gas wells are bound
to dry up, be plugged and abandoned, along with the platforms,” said LPG-MA
Party-list Rep. Arnel Ty, a senior member of the House committee on energy.
Once vacated, he said, the rigs
could be converted by the Philippine Navy into an outpost.
Ty, a deputy minority leader, has
been urging government to invest in modern warships to secure the West
Philippine Sea’s oil and gas deposits, amid the country’s long-running dispute
with China over territorial waters.
At present, the Philippine Marine
Corps is using what is left of the World War II vintage BRP Sierra Madre as a
makeshift garrison 150 kilometers off northwest Palawan. The ship is grounded
atop an atoll in the Spratly Islands.
The Malampaya rigs are two large
adjacent structures with facilities to extract natural gas and oil from
undersea reservoirs. The platforms are built to withstand typhoons and
earthquakes. One of the rigs can house 60 workers and has a helipad.
“The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources could also use the rigs for a marine research hub. Even the Bureau of
Corrections can opt to transform the platforms into a high security prison,” Ty
explained.
The lawmaker prefers the eventual
use of the rigs as a naval station and marine study center.
Besides its vast hydrocarbon
deposits that could help assure the country’s long-term energy requirements,
the West Philippine Sea is also home to 20 percent of the country’s fisheries
catch, and serves as a breeding ground for high-value aquatic resources that
have to be protected to sustain the local commercial fishing industry,
according to Ty.
Discovered in 1991, the Malampaya
gas field began commercial production in 2002. The field’s gas is conveyed via
a 504-kilometer, 24-inch pipeline to Batangas City, where the fuel drives three
power plants with a combined 2,700 megawatts in full generating capacity.
Located 80 kilometers off northwest
Palawan, Malampaya has proven reserves of about 3.2 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas, which is expected to last until 2024, depending on how
aggressively the fuel is harvested.
Based on geological surveys, the
United States Energy Information Administration estimates that the West
Philippine Sea may contain up to 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and
5.4 billion barrels of oil, “with the bulk of the resources likely located in
the contested Reed Bank at the northeast end of the Spratly Islands.” (PNA)
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