The Philippines should protect the oil- and gas-rich Recto Bank, which holds the key to the country’s energy independence, “at all costs,” the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) said Sunday.
“We must secure and defend Recto Bank at all costs. We should assume jurisdiction over the conservation, exploration, and exploitation of the seamount’s vast hydrocarbon deposits for the benefit of future Filipino generations,” said House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty.
In a news release to media outfits, Ty called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to lift a force majeure that has shut down oil and gas drilling activities in Recto Bank, which lies just 80 nautical miles northwest off the Palawan coast.
“We should not allow China’s protests and pestering to disrupt our efforts to harness Recto Bank’s oil and gas assets,” Ty, who speaks for the minority in the House energy committee, said.
“The consortium that runs the Recto Bank petroleum service contract should be permitted to resume its search for oil and gas supplies,” he added.
Also called Reed Bank, Recto is a large underwater mount that rises just nine to 45 meters short of the sea level.
While the bank is well within the Philippines’ 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, it is the subject of a territorial row with China.
China has been raring to seize and occupy Recto Bank, according to former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez.
5.4 billion barrels of oil, 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas
Citing geological surveys, the US Energy Information Administration estimates that the West Philippine Sea may contain up to 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, “with the bulk of the resources likely located in the contested Reed Bank at the northeast end of the Spratlys.”
“Actually, studies of extensive seismic data indicate that Recto Bank’s Sampaguita gas field alone has up to 4.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 115 million barrels of oil,” Ty said.
“To put this in perspective, the fully operational Malampaya gas field contains only up to 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 85 million barrels of condensate,” he pointed out.
The largest hydrocarbon deposit ever discovered in the Philippines, Malampaya now produces 146 billion cubic feet of gas every year, and the fuel drives three of Luzon’s largest power plants that are based in Batangas.
Forum Energy Plc, the private operator of Service Contract 72, was originally set to drill two exploratory wells in Recto Bank this month.
Exploration work stopped due to force majeure
However, in March, the DOE granted a force majeure on SC 72, citing the territorial dispute with China and the ongoing United Nations arbitration proceedings.
Owing to the force majeure, Forum had to abandon all exploration work “until further notice from the DOE.”
Forum has a 70 percent interest in SC 72, with the remaining 30 percent held by Monte Oro Resources and Energy Inc.
Forum is majority owned by Philex Petroleum Corp., a Philippine Stock Exchange-listed entity run by businessman Manuel Pangilinan.
Tidemark Holdings Ltd., controlled by former Trade Minister Roberto Ongpin, also has a minority stake in Forum.
Meanwhile, an Australian-Filipino consortium over the weekend began drilling a deepwater exploratory well in the West Philippine Sea, hoping for an oil strike.
The group led by Otto Energy Investments Ltd. intends to drill 1,000 meters below the sea bed and hopes to hit the top of a promising hydrocarbon reservoir in Service Contract 55, a deepwater block in the southwest Palawan Basin that is not in disputed territory.
Using the 60,000-ton ultra-deepwater drillship Maersk Venturer, Otto expects to complete the digging of the Hawkeye-1 well in 23 days at a cost of $24.5 million (P1.1 billion).
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/115306/ph-must-secure-gas-rich-recto-bank-at-all-costs-allow-philex-to-explore-disputed-seamount---ty
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