(NYMWPS) — Last week, a virtual forum on West Philippine Sea was organized and sponsored by the National Youth Movement for the West Philippine Sea or NYMWPS to inform the public on the Malampaya gas field updates and developments.
Eduardo Mañalac, a former Department of Energy undersecretary, and the NYMWPS appealed to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. not to extend the Service Contract 38 of Malampaya when it terminates in February 2024.
Malampaya produces cleaner-burning natural gas which supplies five power plants in the main and northern island of Luzon and 20% of its power requirements.
The Malampaya project is currently operated by Prime Infrastructure Capital which is owned by Enrique Razon Jr., and Udenna, owned by Dennis Uy. They currently earns 50 million pesos or over $900,000 each, a total of 100 million pesos or over $18 million a day from the Malampaya gas profits.
On Feb. 14, 2023, the Department of Energy issued the following statement:
“The Energy Resource Development Bureau of the Department of Energy is withholding any comment on the request for an extension of the Service Contract No. 38 Consortium, while the same is under review by the Office of the President.
“Suffice it to say that under Presidential Decree No. 87, the interest of the country in promoting gas and oil resources for the people’s benefit remains paramount.
“Accordingly, the Philippine government retains at all times its full control over all aspects of gas and oil exploration and development. The service contractor is exactly that: a contractor.
“PD 87 embodies an early example of public-private partnerships (where the private sector bears all the risk) and, in the case of the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power Project, a successful one.”
The NYMWPS asked Mañalac, an exploration geologist by profession and with over 35 years of experience in the field of oil and gas exploration and development, to clarify the meaning of private- public partnerships in which the private sector bears all the risk.
“There are no more exploration risks in the Malampaya Gas Field since it’s already a successful project. Razon and Uy did not risk anything. They made profits from day one when they took over Chevron’s and Shell’s interests,” Mañalac said.
He added, “Further, if the service contract is extended, and they offer to drill more exploration wells, these exploration costs will be paid and recovered from the Malampaya revenues. This means that at the end, it is the government or the people’s money that is put at risk.”
Mañalac and the NYMWPS reiterate that the non-extension of the current service contractor and the Philippine government’s completely taking over Malampaya will tremendously benefit the Filipino people economically.
The Malampaya gas field is a deepwater gas-condensate reservoir, 65 km northwest of the island of Palawan, the Philippines.
