State-run Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) projected a high 80 percent success rate in prospecting for new wells at the Malampaya service contract area off the northwestern coast of Palawan.
Franz Josef George Alvarez, PNOC-EC president, told the Senate sub-finance committee that the consortium led by Prime Energy Resources Development B.V. will drill two new wells in 2025 with high hopes of striking it big.
Service Contract 38 that covers the Malampaya gas field had been renewed for another 15 years with the mandate for the consortium to explore and drill at least two new deep-water wells from 2024 to 2029.
The objective is to unlock the potential of both the existing Malampaya gas field and nearby areas.
The global experience in prospecting show 40 to 60 percent success rate in onshore drilling and 30 to 40 percent for offshore exercises.
The best estimates for Malampaya project an additional 210 billion cubic feet of gas.
Alvarez said preparations for the drilling has begun in hopes of providing the country an additional indigenous gas source.
Alvarez said the consortium expects to spend at least $690 million in exploring gas deposits in Malampaya led by Prime Energy and UC38 LLC, each with a 45 percent stake and the PNOC-EC with another 10 percent.PNOC-EC plans spending P3.45 billion as consortium member in the $690 million program from 2023 to 2026.
PNOC-EC proposed a budget of P11.94 billion for 2024 with at least P2.02 billion for continuing Malampaya operations.
The Malampaya project is one of the country’s most important power assets supplying natural gas to power plants in Batangas City that accounts for 20 percent of Luzon’s total energy requirement.
