The natural gas resources beneath the West Philippine Sea
are so vast the cleaner fuel could energize the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids for at least 20 years, the Liquefied
Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) on Sunday said.
“This is one of the compelling reasons why we have to secure
our 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone and its contiguous area, including the
seabed of the continental shelf up to 350 miles from the national coastal
baseline. We have to defend the zone against China
“In fact, we should invest in new warships, including
frigates, missile gunboats and fast attack crafts, for deployment to the zone.
We should build a strong naval base in northwest Palawan ,”
said Ty, who speaks for the minority bloc in the House energy committee.
The country’s territory in the West
Philippine Sea is believed to have a number of Malampaya-like
natural gas fields, the lawmaker said.
“We only need to harness three more Malampaya-like fields to
power up the whole country. And we’ve already discovered one of the three. It
is just a question of exploring some more to ascertain where best to drill and
draw out the greatest amount of gas,” Ty explained.
He was referring to the Recto Bank’s Sampaguita field, which
is estimated to contain up to 4.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The field
lies just 80 nautical miles northwest off the Palawan
coast.
Ty cited the tremendous economic as well as environmental
benefits of developing the country’s indigenous natural gas resources: Huge
foreign exchange savings because the country would be spending less dollars to
import coal and oil.
Since natural gas trades at a discount, electricity would be
cheaper for all consumers, thus freeing up business and household incomes for
other forms of spending;
Billions of pesos in new government royalties; Energy
security and economic stability for the country, without having to be troubled
by potential power shortages; and
The country’s air quality would improve in a big way due to
reduced carbon dioxide discharges.
“We need a cleaner source of power. We have to rely more on
natural gas, and less on coal and oil to produce the bulk of our electricity,”
Ty noted.
At present, some 34.40 percent of the country’s dependable
power generating capacity is produced from coal; 19.07 percent from hydro
resources; 17.66 percent from natural gas; 17.30 percent from oil (diesel and
fuel oil); 10.28 percent from geothermal; and 1.29 percent from biomass, biodiesel,
solar and wind, according to the Department of Energy.
“Among fossil fuels, natural gas contains the least carbon
dioxide and burns more efficiently,” Ty pointed out.
Excessive carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere have
led to global warming and brutal climate changes, such as severe rainfall and
harsh drought.
“In the case of Malampaya, the field’s natural gas displaces
around 1.35 million kilograms of carbon dioxide per hour that otherwise would
be polluting our air,” Ty said.
Discovered in 1991, the Malampaya offshore gas field in
northwest Palawan 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 (MW) in full generating capacity.
Malampaya has proven reserves of about 3.2 trillion cubic
feet of natural gas, which is expected to last until 2024 to 2030, depending on
how aggressively the fuel is harvested.
As of March 2015, the Philippine government has received
over P208 billion in royalties from Malampaya.
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 Spratlys.”
http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=791394
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