CEBU Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia has welcomed the Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposal to continue oil and gas exploration and drilling in Barangay Montpeller, Alegria town, southwest Cebu.
However, the governor suggested that this be done through a public-private partnership.
During a meeting at the Capitol on Thursday, March 14, 2024, the DOE reaffirmed its intention to carry out exploration and drilling in the town.
Garcia said she wants to welcome private companies and allow them to work with Capitol to pursue drilling and exploratory activities aimed at extracting the town’s unexplored gas and oil reserves.
“We invite private firms and let them partner with Capitol to pursue exploration and drilling efforts to harness the town’s untapped oil and gas resources,” Garcia said.
The DOE, the Capitol said, is amenable to the governor’s suggestion and will support negotiations with companies interested in partnering with them on oil exploration.
To recall, oil service contractor China International Mining Petroleum Co. Ltd. (CIMP) was then producing commercial quantities of natural gas and oil following the estimated discovery of 27.93 million barrels of oil, with a potential production recovery of 3.35 million barrels of crude oil, or a conservative estimate of 12 percent of all oil in place and reserves.
The recoverable resource for natural gas is projected to be 6.6 billion cubic feet or almost 70 percent of the entire amount of natural gas in place.
About 9.42 billion cubic feet of reserves were detected for the gas.
However, the oil exploration was halted in 2023 after the DOE terminated its contract with CIMP because it could not fulfill its role. / ANV, TPT