New gas field discovered in Malampaya

The Philippines has discovered a major natural gas reservoir in Malampaya, province of Palawan.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. announced the discovery of a new gas field in Malampaya, considered as a first major discovery that has been made in over a decade.

“For the first time in over a decade a significant natural gas discovery has been made. The discovered reservoir called Malampaya East 1 or ME 1. It is located about five kilometers east of the existing Malampaya Field. The ME 1 is estimated to contain 98 billion cubic feet of gas in place. Katumbas nito ang halos labing apat na bilyong kilowatt hour ng kuryente sa isang taon,” President Marcos said.

The new gas field can supply 14B kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and is expected to benefit 5.7M households.

“Ibig sabihin makapag supply ito ng kuryente sa halos 5.7 million na kabahayan, 9,500 gusali o halos dalawanlibong paaralan sa loob ng isang taon. This helps Malampaya’s contribution and help strengthen our domestic gas supply for many years to come. The initial testing show that the well flow at 60 million cubic feet per day. This indicates that the well has the potential to produce even more,” he further said.

The newly discovered reservoir is located just 5 kilometers from the existing Malampaya Field.

The Malampaya Project marked the birth of the natural gas industry in the Philippines. Located 50 kilometers offshore Northwest Palawan, the Malampaya project began its commercial operations in 2002 and has contributed over USD$12 billion in revenues to the national government while powering up to 20% of Luzon’s electricity requirement.