here's a report..
http://www.bulatlat.com/news/5-28/5-28-negros.htm

That's good news, but I'd hate to see oil platforms in the distance if I were chilling on a secluded beach somewhere.

I think we have the potential to be an oil rich country or an oil dependent country free from importing to other nation's gas. But the problem is the money to dig and to explore. I even heard rumors that the United States is already exploring our natural gas through submarines. I don't know if that is true.

^^ oh what the f*ck, I always think that the US is taking advantage of us...

:banana: :banana: it pop out on my mind that the bridge between cebu and negros would be far greater reality then. This strait is partly long, and so what part of strait are they talking about. fishing business absolutely will complain ofcourse thats because it will affect their business. but what are they talking about! this big project can generate great employment, more investment, more money for infrastructure towards their provinces.

May I say something off-topic:
As the worlds biggest coconut supplier, why don't we make and distribute to our fellow Filipinos coco bio-diesel? The time now is very right! Sell it cheaply and import it expensively but below crude oil prices(ex:Crude oil:60dollars per barrel, Coco oil:55 dollars per barrel) and the world crude oil supply has began peaking thus the world needs alternative fuel! We can ask Israel for their new tree genetics technology in order to make our coconut trees supply coconut just three hours after being harvested(thus solving land issues). Benefits: we can stop bleeding Billions of dollars out of our nation, it is eco friendly, taxes from it can kill our foreign debt in one decade after its importation, it can spur our GDP growth dramaticaly and thus a prosperous nation. In my opinion, coco bio diesel can solve much of our financial problems. If we should start now and out start other major coconut suppliers for at least 5 years and be the worlds sole supplier, the nation can really go places!

I think we have the potential to be an oil rich country or an oil dependent country free from importing to other nation's gas. But the problem is the money to dig and to explore. I even heard rumors that the United States is already exploring our natural gas through submarines. I don't know if that is true.

Well, we may never know

they don't realize how important are these oil discoveries are and also linking the islands through the rumoured conceptualization of a bridge. why not try it rather than just fishing.

Cebu gas find declared 'commercial'
Posted: 2:27 AM | Dec. 13, 2005


FORUM Energy PLC, a joint venture of Canada's Forum Energy Corp. and the United Kingdom's Sterling Energy PLC, and the Department of Energy have declared the Libertad gas field in Cebu province, in the central Philippines, as a commercial discovery.

In a statement posted on its official website, Forum Energy says this is the first declaration of a commercial gas field in the Philippines since the Camago-Malampaya gas find off Palawan Island several years ago.


The Libertad gas field, located 100 kilometers north of Cebu City, is expected to generate up to two megawatts of electricity starting next year, following a $2.5-million development program.

Forum chief executive David Robinson said the company was in talks with a Philippine power producer on possible gas supply from Libertad. He declined to identify the local company.

The Philippines currently has three power plants that run on natural gas: the 1,000-megawatt Santa Rita plant and the 500-megawatt San Lorenzo plant -- both of the Lopez group -- and the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan plant. All are Batangas province, and get their natural gas from the Malampaya field.

The Libertad gas field is under Service Contract 40, in which Forum holds a 66.7-percent stake.

The service contract also covers the onshore Maya oil and gas find, and prospects on Jibitnil Island and in the Tanon Strait.

The company said that as these prospects could be found near existing infrastructure networks, they had a lot of potential for commercial development.

Forum also sees production of high-quality steam coal from its coal properties in the first half of next year.

The company has two coal operating contracts in central and southern Cebu with proven and probable reserves of 4.9 million tons.

Forum completed in August a key 3D seismic survey across the Sampaguita gas discovery, 250 km southwest of the Malampaya gas field, to determine the commercial potential of the gas find. It said analysis of the survey results would not only give it more information on the commercial potential of the gas find but also help it identify the best location for an appraisal well that may be drilled next year.

According to a recent independent assessment by petroleum consultants PGS Reservoir Ltd., the Sampaguita gas field has estimated potential recoverable gas reserves of up to 2.3 trillion cubic feet. With INQ7.net

On Biofuels

Lotilla pushes quick passage of Biofuels Act
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 04/16/2006

Energy Secretary Raphael P. M. Lotilla has reiterated his call for the passage of the biofuels bill to lower the prices of alternative fuels in the transport sector.

He said the existing infrastructure currently used by coco-biodiesel manufacturers entails higher production costs.

"Right now, it’s still manual blending. It is the reason why there used to be a 60-centavo a liter additional cost and we hope to bring this down to 23 centavos a liter. In some cities in the country, they have reduced the price of coco-biodiesel to match the price of diesel," he said.

He said Chemrez Inc., one of the aggressive manufacturers of coco-biodiesel products, has committed to reduce the cost of its products once the bill is passed.

"They do expect that once the biofuels bill is passed, it can help reduce the price of CME (coco methyl ester or coco-biodiesel) and others would be encouraged to put up similar plants and could lead to more competition and abolish the packaging and marketing expenses associated with manual blending," he said.

Lotilla said Chemrez is expected to inaugurate by May this year their new bio-diesel plant, which would add 60 million liters a year from the current 15 million liters volume supply.

"This would be onstream by May 8. And what’s interesting is that the construction of this plant has been done 100-percent by local contractors and engineers, even though their technology is German technology," he said.

For the government’s part, he said Malacañang has considered this bill as one of the priority laws that have to be passed within the year.

"For the biofuels bill, both the Senate and House committee reports have been certified as urgent by the President. The House has already finished but in the Senate, the version has already been certified as urgent," he said.

Lotilla also assured that the Department of Energy (DOE) is doing its part in carrying out appropriate tests for these alternative fuels.

According to the energy chief, these CME products have already been certified for exports to other countries, which means these have passed international product standards.

"As far as coco-biodiesel is concerned, it is being exported to Germany and Japan, which are countries that have strict requirements," he said.

In fact, he said they are now pushing for the use of CME in the power sector. "Right now, there are other proposals, for example in the use of CME for power - that we develop a different standard, because a power generation machine may have different requirements from a vehicle — in other words the so-called low-speed motors can actually run on less stringent standards," he said.

^^ I'm in full support of this law!

i hope it wouldnt be a "tongonan,leyte" in the making.... tongonan leyte is one of the worlds largest geothermal energy supplier(it was once the largest)... pero ano ang nangyayari? mahal pa rin ang kuryente... and worse, madalas pang mag brownout sa leyte.... i hope that the oils found in cebu will somehow help the majority...

A Japanese Company will drill oil for the Philippines after a very huge oil field was detected in Tañon Straight (between Negros Oriental and Cebu Island). This so far is the largest discovery in the Philippines.

The scheme will be 40-60... 40% of the earnings will go to the company, 60% will go to the government. The LGUs affected will also be given 10%.

is the spratly islands totatly lost?? can we ever get it back??

^^ actualy, no one owns Spratlys. It is still disputed.

^^ oh what the f*ck, I always think that the US is taking advantage of us...

They would never take advantage of other countries. Americans are just but they do make blunders too. Just imagine what it would be like if China was the superpower instead of the USA. Even the Arabs would probably be impoverished and begging for food and water in the Chinese language. The Americans are present in the Middle East and making sure everybody observes their respective boundaries and laws. As far as I know, only the Fundamentalists are complaining. Here in the Philippines, it is the commies who are accusing the Americans of everything... including the stupid actions of our politicians. Question is sista, are you a commie?

I don't think that it would change our situation enough even if they find a substantial oil and gas field. Our population is just to big for it to make any difference... add to that the corruption and we'd just end up like Indonesia.

They would never take advantage of other countries. Americans are just but they do make blunders too.


:rofl:

:rofl:

:rofl:

:hahaha:

Dinho, you're kidding right? ^you sure made the two above laugh:D
Sometimes i wonder if you even know what you are writing...

And we're not in the 70s anymore, how insensitive of you to call sista a "commie" in its derogatory form. Why? because she is Chinese Filipino? can you say "The Brig"??

Dinho, you're kidding right? ^you sure made the two above laugh:D
Sometimes i wonder if you even know what you are writing...

And we're not in the 70s anymore, how insensitive of you to call sista a "commie" in its derogatory form. Why? because she is Chinese Filipino? can you say "The Brig"??

No, I did not know she was a Chinese Filipino. I myself am 1/3 or 1/4 Chinese. Why would I say that? I do not have anything against Filipino and Taiwanese Chinese. I asked her if she was a commie because she behaved like one. Only commies would blame the Americans for everything including stealing the oil resources of the world.

well I hope with the new drill sites discovered.. it wouldn't affect the natural reserve.. and I'm fearing that we might not benefit from this... as Canada and Japan may themselves take advantage on this to lower their own prices first and reselling the oil to us in a higher price...

I agree that alternative source of oil should be found... coco-diesel or why not ethanol... we do have a big source of coconut and sugarcane in the country.,...

^^ Yes, we can be the next Saudi in terms of COCO BIODIESEL AND ETHANOL fuels ounce Crude oil prices really gets that terrible.

Ehhh?

How many barrels does the reservoir supposedly have?

we've also seen some news posted in the forums before about the Philippine Trench having the largest deposit of "deuterium" in the world? what happened to this one? Do you think we can harness this fuel source in the future?

^^This thread? http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=204110

salamat sa link Ryan! hehehe... kakatamad kasi maghanap-hanap... hehe

I think we have the potential to be an oil rich country or an oil dependent country free from importing to other nation's gas. But the problem is the money to dig and to explore. I even heard rumors that the United States is already exploring our natural gas through submarines. I don't know if that is true.


From what I have read a long time ago, the US is already helping China explore mineral resources in the disputed Spratly island chain.

RP braces for shock as oil hits $71 per barrel

First posted 01:58am (Mla time) April 19, 2006
By Abigail L. Ho, Christine Avendano
Inquirer



Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the Apr. 19, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer


THE GOVERNMENT is looking at measures like improving the public's access to ethanol and coco-diesel and expanding the number of gas stations offering a P1-discount on diesel fuel to public utility vehicles to cushion the impact of escalating world oil prices on Filipino consumers.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said Cabinet officials expanded yesterday the mitigating measures put in place last year "in order to address the resurgence of high oil prices in the international market.”

Oil prices broke new ground above $71 a barrel on Monday owing to mounting tensions over Iran's nuclear ambitions, fears of US gasoline shortages and rapid economic growth in China.

Brent North Sea crude closed at $71.46 a barrel. That was up 89 cents from Thursday's closing level in London, and just off a new high reached earlier Monday of $71.62.

In New York, light sweet crude for May delivery surged $1.08 from Thursday to close at $70.40 a barrel, testing levels not seen since last summer.

Crude prices had last set a record in New York of $70.85 on Aug. 30, after Hurricane Katrina hammered oil production facilities in the US Gulf of Mexico region.

Dubai crude, the benchmark for fuel prices in the country, surged to a record high of $64.7 a barrel on Monday, boosting the April average to $62.36 from $57.82 in March.

Unleaded gasoline is now sold at $83.50 a barrel and diesel at $86.48 a barrel, according to Lotilla.

Prices to persist for a month

"While we are hoping that this will be a temporary phenomenon, nevertheless we have to prepare for any eventuality that it will persist for a month or two or longer,” the energy secretary said.

In a statement, the Department of Energy (DoE) said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had ordered government agencies to look for ways to make the surging oil prices more bearable for Filipinos.

The DoE is pushing oil firms to increase the number of gas stations offering P1-a-liter diesel discounts to the public transport sector.

At present, there are 366 gasoline stations all over the country that offer such discounts, including 194 in Metro Manila, 49 in Northern Luzon, 59 in Southern Luzon, 23 in the Visayas and 41 in Mindanao.

Other measures

Other mitigating measures include:

Promoting the use of autogas (LPG) among taxi fleets and private vehicles to spur more gas stations to offer the fuel.

Reducing temporarily the import tariffs slapped on crude and refined petroleum products.

Planting of Jethropha whose seeds can be a source of biodiesel.

Ms Arroyo has given the Philippine National Oil Corp. (PNOC) the go-signal to enter into joint ventures with military camps in order to promote the planting of Jethropha.

PNOC Energy Development Corp. has already earmarked P1.6 million for planting Jatropha in its geothermal reservations.

The Jatropha Propagation Project, being undertaken in cooperation with the Dacongcogon Producers Cooperative Marketing Association and D1 Oils Asia Pacific Inc., aims to determine the agronomic requirements of the Jatropha species in the Philippines.

Substitute for diesel

PNOC-EDC said the plant's 37-percent oil content could be used as a substitute for diesel fuel.

Initially, the Jatropha plant will be planted on a 5-hectare property in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental province.

Lotilla said the President also directed the Department of Finance, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs to finalize the revenue guidelines for the importation of ethanol, a biofuel that has sugarcane, corn or cassava as raw materials.
"Because at current prices, ethanol can also bring down the pump price of gasoline when this is blended with gasoline,” the energy secretary said.

To jump-start the country's bio-ethanol fuel program, the President on July 22, 2005 issued Executive Order No. 449, which would reduce the tariff on bio-ethanol imports from 10 percent to only 1 percent.

Covered by the tariff reduction are bio-ethanol imports that would be used for the government's Fuel Ethanol Program, as duly certified by the DoE.

Since the issuance of the EO, however, the government had yet to issue its implementing rules and regulations.

Local ethanol production is not expected to start until 2007.

Compressed natural gas

Lotilla said the Cabinet also agreed to review further the provisions of the proposed biodiesel law to determine incentives that can be given to vehicles, which can run on gasoline blended with 10 percent ethanol.

Another alternative transport fuel that the government is pushing is compressed natural gas (CNG).

The DoE said the Cabinet would ask the Shell group to proceed with the commercial operation of its mother-daughter stations in the country.

Safety issues continued to prevent Shell Philippines Exploration BV (SPEX) and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. from starting commercial operations of their mother-daughter CNG refilling stations, based on the two firms' own assessments.

Mario Marasigan, DoE energy utilization and management bureau director, earlier said that the Shell group should submit by the end of the month a crucial report that would pave the way for the start of operations of CNG-fed buses on the Batangas-Manila-Batangas route.

He related that the DoE had already completed its own inspections of Shell's mother-daughter CNG refilling stations, but it had yet to receive a formal report from the Shell Group.

The results of Shell's own tests on the mother-daughter stations, which would have to be submitted to the DoE for concurrence, were crucial to the start of commercial operations of these stations, he said.

Ms Arroyo also ordered PNOC to explore alternative arrangements with other private investors for the construction of additional mother-daughter stations.

Cost-cutting
In the power sector, the government, through the National Power Corp. would be implementing stringent cost-cutting measures, with particular emphasis on using less oil-based power plants and shifting to those that ran on fuels such as hydro, geothermal and natural gas.

In the March 5-11 period, the country's generation mix showed an increased use of renewable energy at 26 percent in Luzon, 89.3 percent in the Visayas, and 83 percent in Mindanao.

No, I did not know she was a Chinese Filipino. I myself am 1/3 or 1/4 Chinese. Why would I say that? I do not have anything against Filipino and Taiwanese Chinese. I asked her if she was a commie because she behaved like one. Only commies would blame the Americans for everything including stealing the oil resources of the world.

Truth is America has actually taken much from us than what they give. They will never help u unless they have interest's like getting something in return.

Why could not they help and free Sudan and zimbabwe?? and other poor african countries that have repressive govt's?? What if suddenly the largest reserve of oil was discovered in Sudan?? would they be concerned to invade and free them like in iraq?? And im sure the CIA, FBI will begin to say ooohh there are terrorsit in sudan they have connections with al-qaeda they got training camps we got blurry satelite photo's and phone taps.. :lol: just like they did in iraq hahahaha!!! All for the sake of oil and for the future of nearly 300 million americans that depend on it.

just beware of the current gloria administration.

during the time of ramos and estrada administrations, palawan was poised to become the riches province in the country. the province was expected to receive billions of dollars in the next few years when the extraction of gas from Malampaya starts. by virtue of a law (i think it is the local government code), the province is supposed to receive that billions of dollars as its share.

then came gloria and the rest was history. she claimed that malampaya is "off shore" palawan, thus the province has no right to receive the disputed share.

although the local court has decreed that palawan is entitled to the share, gloria still maintains that palawan is not entitled to the share and refuses to give the province our RIGHTFUL share.

that is the reason why palawan is solid anti-GMA.

lesson: the problem in the country really lies in the corrupt, greedy, selfish and self-centered leader.

ps: just imagine what she could do when cha cha pushes through...

does that mean only the national government earn from malampaya?

ps: just imagine what she could do when cha cha pushes through...

hmmmm....if cha cha pushes through, Palawan will have more control of its resources and its allocation. Thats a good thing, you know;)

pau_p1: yeah. all the government's share from the malampaya goes to the national government. even the funds that supposed to go to the local government units are withheld by the national gov't. It should supposed to be put escrow(bec Palawan is assertin its right towards it), but there was a buzz that the funds are gone already... a part of it was purportedly used last elections...

GreyX: GMA plans to put Palawan together with the western visayas region (panay provinces, negros occ., together with boracay). if that pushes through together with cha cha, itll be harder for palawan to get its share. that visayan area is GMA suppoters, right? so most probably, theyll just adhere to what will GMA would say.
imagine, $2.1 which should be earned by palawan alone in th next 20 years of extracting gas from malampaya starting from 2002. $2.1B yun... ipaglalaban yan ni GMA.
http://www.inq7.net/opi/2003/jul/16/letter_2-1.htm

Biofuels players gear up for action
By Paul Anthony A. Isla
and Jodeal Cadacio
Reporters
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0421/front02.php

WITH the continuous surge in world oil prices prompting senators to “step on the gas” in approving the consolidated biofuels bill that is seen to reduce dependence on fossil fuel, industry players are gearing up for the final go-ahead and are ready to jump-start their projects, said a congressman from the South on Thursday.
“The Senate’s green light is expected to spur at least a dozen investments. Prospective investors await the enactment of the bill into law, before they infuse billions of pesos to build milling plants that would produce alternative fuels from agricultural products such as coconut and sugar cane, among others,” Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri said.
Once the regulatory framework is in place, industry players will go in and infuse capital, he added.
Citing a report of the Biofuel Alliance, Zubiri cited seven companies with ethanol projects in the exploratory stage: Alcantara and Sons, Chemphil Group, Marubeni, the Teves Group of Negros Oriental, NU3 Food based in La Carlota City, Negros Oriental, an outfit in Pampanga led by the Cobarrubias family, and the Passi, Iloilo consortium of sugar planters.
“In addition, a foreign group, two sugar centrals and two companies have also expressed interest to invest and manufacture coco methyl ester (CME) biodiesel,” Zubiri said.
Players are confident of Senate approval after three Senate committees came out with a joint report on Wednesday endorsing a common version of nine bills institutionalizing the use biofuels.
The quick Senate action was partly spurred by a nearly week-long spike in global oil prices, as problems in Nigeria and Iran, two of the world’s major oil producers, caused speculation in the markets.
On Thursday, oil prices shot to as much as $72 a barrel in Asian markets.
Meanwhile, former Energy secretary Vincent Perez lauded the Senate for its moves to approve the proposed Biofuels Act of 2006.
Senate Bill 2226, approved by the Senate Committees on Energy, Agriculture and Food, and Finance, and endorsed by 20 senators for approval, aims to reduce dependence on imported oil through the mandatory blending of locally produced biofuels such as bioethanol and biodiesel, into all gasoline and diesel fuel to be sold and used as motor fuel.
“This is a most timely action in light of soaring oil prices the world over,” Perez said.
The disruption of Nigerian supplies due to militia violence also quickened the rise in prices.
With the intense global hunger for oil fuelled by steadily rising demand from the growing economies of China and India, no sign of price relief is foreseen in the immediate future.
“By promoting the use of locally produced biofuels as transport fuel, we are increasing our domestic energy supplies and, at the same time, sustaining our agricultural sector. We are also opening windows for investments in biofuel production with the infusion of fresh capital into the Philippine economy and resulting in more jobs,” Perez said.
Meanwhile, the local alternatives to oil are raring to see action. “If they decide to invest in the alternative fuels industry, they would join two early birds, the San Carlos ethanol plant and another one in sugar-growing Bukidnon,” Zubiri said.
He explained that an ethanol plant costs P.15 billion to build, which explains the wait-and-see attitude of interested companies that naturally would like to see the investment terrain before they take the plunge.
To attract investors, Zubiri said the bill offers “a raft of perks” that include tax privileges, to those interested in making cheap, clean, VAT-free gas out of sugarcane and coconut.
A “foreign development” that argues for the immediate passage of the biofuels measure is the US-Iran row over the latter’s nuclear program, with the United Nations mulling over an embargo against Iran.
Zubiri said that one of every four barrels of oil that enters the country comes from Iran.
The country imports 24.6 percent of its crude oil requirements from Iran, which is second only to our oil imports of 56.3 percent from Saudi Arabia.
“If there would be an embargo against Iran, we will have a hard time finding a substitute. And we cannot forever be held hostage to turmoil and upheavals in the volatile Middle East. We cannot tie our country’s fate to that region,” Zubiri said.
The bill seeks to replace within four years a tenth of national gasoline consumption with ethanol, to start with the “mandatory blending of gasoline with 5 percent bioethanol” within two years after the law’s approval, and lead to an annual foreign exchange savings of P40 billion.

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0421/pers-pic.jpg

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0421/pers01.php
Q & A

Is biodiesel just hype or a real alternative to fossil fuel? Could the Philippines really produce it in commercial quantities enough to make a difference? Jun Lao, operations manager of Chemrez Inc., says his company is already producing biodiesel commercially for export to the United States, Japan and Germany as a partial replacement to diesel. In the Philippines, Chemrez is marketing biodiesel as a “BioActive fuel enhancer” that is mixed with diesel. All is needed, Lao claimed, is a 1-percent mix with diesel for the consumer to save as much as P80 for every 50-liter full tank, in addition to the reduction of harmful substances in tailpipe emission. In just 20 minutes, a smoke belcher could supposedly comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Act.
But why are people not yet shifting to biodiesel in mass? In an interview with BusinessMirror research staff Dave Llorito and Debbie Pepito, Lao explained that a massive shift to biodiesel could only be assured if Congress passed a law requiring oil companies to sell preblended biodiesel. While the independent oil players are keen on the idea, the Big Three of Petron Corp., Chevron Philippines and Pilipinas Shell are resisting the idea of legally mandated preblending of biodiesel as they feel that preblending should be optional. Nevertheless, the Senate is rushing the bill on biofuels and Lao hopes that soon the Philippines will have a vibrant biofuel industry.
Excerpts:

Could you give us a background of your company and how it came to produce biodiesel?
Chemrez has been an oleochemical manufacturer since 1982. Oleochemical means chemicals made from vegetable oils. Chemrez has been a pioneer producer of oleochemicals since 1982 and we got BO recognition for this since that year. Since 1982 until 2002, oleochemicals have always been focusing on the soap and the detergent industry. It was about four-and-a-half years ago that the focus switched to fuel application. At that time, a retiree from Petron, Florelio Galindo, and Rafael Diaz came to us, proposing they take our [coco] methyl esther and use it as fuel. Methyl esther has always been used as a raw material for making shampoo. At that time, if you’re going to use a coconut-based or vegetable oil-based product and use it as fuel, you need to establish very strict specifications. So the Department of Energy, plus the carmakers and the oil companies, came together to establish the Philippine national standard for biodiesel. We were the first company that was able to meet this standard using [coco] methyl esther or CME.

When did the standard come up?
I think it was in about May 2002. That was when they finally said this is the Philippine national standard for coco methyl esther or coco biodiesel.

Is it on a par with international standards?
It was fashioned after the American standard. So it’s very similar except for one thing. In the US, they have their biodiesel made from soybean oil. Here it’s made from coconut oil. The difference is in the flash point, the temperature at which the fuel would ignite. It’s not an important spec; it’s just following what type of oil you use to make the biodiesel. Coconut oil has a lower flash point, meaning to say it ignites faster.

Did you need to retool your plant to produce it?
We had, we had to change the process and formulation but we used the same equipment. The old plant—we call it a batch plant—has an inherent inefficiency. So we went to see a German technology company to make a new factory. With this new plant the process becomes a continuous process. You just pipe in, and then it will react, and it will pipe out straight to a tank. It’s direct and could be done 24/7. It’s more efficient and the output is much higher.

Could CME be a 100-percent replacement for fuel?
CME is 100-percent replacement for diesel. You can use it to completely replace diesel without changing your car or modifying the engine. However, because it’s made from coconut oil, then you still have to process coconut oil. So the price of CME is much higher than diesel. It might be a very, very good fuel but it is not suitable because of the price. But with oil prices going up… its viability is improving.

Is that the reason we have to mix it with diesel?
Correct. Plus there are other benefits. Fuel here is a bit of low quality. The smoke that you see is mostly unburned fuel and if you are able to tap that unburned fuel, you will get more mileage and improve efficiency. We found that once you blend [methyl esther] with diesel, fuel quality improves. In fact, ’yung pinakamabilis na mapapansin mo [what you will discover immediately] is that within as short a time as 20 minutes, the smoke is gone. The smoke belcher immediately becomes compliant with Clean Air [Act].

What’s the fuel mix ratio?
One percent. It works like a catalyst. You just give it a little push. It helps you to give it a nudge to burn off the rest of the fuel.

Wouldn’t it so hard to estimate the proportion? If I’m a jeepney driver, I wouldn’t know how much is 1-percent in proportion to the diesel that I put in my tank.
Yes, that’s why we made a bottle size of 500 ml or half liter. Majority of the vehicles on the road has 50-liter tank fuel storage. So if you put the content of the half-liter [BioActiv] into a full tank, that’s exactly 1 percent. Simple: just one bottle for each full tank.

How much is one bottle?
One bottle is P70.

With P70 per bottle, how much could the driver save?
A vehicle’s performance is as unique as the driver. Every vehicle or driver will register different levels of fuel economy improvement from 10-percent to 30-percent fuel improvement. So let’s take the most conservative result. Say, you are using an Isuzu Crosswind with a 50-liter tank. For every full tank, you can save a gross of about P150 and up. You deduct P70 for BioActiv, you still have a net savings of P80 each time you fill up. So immediately as soon as you use, you have an immediate savings.
We realized, however, that it would be difficult for a driver to form a habit of using BioActiv each time he fills his tank with diesel. . . . So, we have embarked on an effort to convince the oil companies that it has to be preblended into the fuel. Kasi kung naka-preblend, it is nationwide immediately. And then you don’t have to buy in bottles. You don’t have to use lots of marketing efforts because it’s in every diesel that people use. Immediately, if implemented, you will suddenly see the pollution level go down overnight. Overnight pollution levels go down, your mileage goes higher so people will realize a sudden savings and a much bigger reduction in fuel consumption.

Are there definite schedules to implement the preblended version?
You might have read in the papers that there is Senate Bill 2007 by Miriam Santiago. This bill seeks to mandate the use of biodiesel at 1 percent in all Philippine diesel, so it’s actually a mandate on the oil company. That’s one half of the bill. The other half mandates ethanol or bioethanol for gasoline.

Ethanol is from what?
In the case for the Philippines, ethanol would be made from sugarcane.

Why can’t we use CME for gasoline as well?
The chemistry is different and the diesel engine is different from gasoline engine. The gasoline engine has a spark plug; the diesel engine doesn’t have any. It’s by compression; that’s why we call diesel engines compression engines.

Don’t you foresee the need to raise the ratio from 1 percent?
The 1 percent is going to have a very dramatic effect on pollution and mileage. If you put it up to 2 percent, you will probably improve on both counts also. Much better emission and much better mileage, but you will then have to look at pricing. There’s a breakeven point.

On your proposal for preblending, what’s the response of oil companies?
There are two groups. The majors plus the independents like Flying V, Seaoil, Eastern, Unioil. The independents are very supportive and, in fact, Flying V has already started to preblend. There are 44 stations with preblended diesel under Flying V. If you go to the station, they will give you a choice whether you want regular diesel or B1 diesel. B1 means 1-percent biodiesel blended into the fuel. They now have a choice. It’s like the regular diesel versus premium diesel with B1. For the month of March, they’re selling both at the same price so that people will try it. I’ve spoken with them and they say they immediately saw a jump of 20 percent in their diesel sales since they offered B1. So there’s a lot of people who wanted to try and it’s a good sign also because those who tried it came back to use biodiesel again. Tulad ng mga jeep, dalawa, tatlong beses magpakarga sa isang linggo, they keep coming back for the B1.

How about the major players?
If you approach the majors, they will not oppose the government’s initiative to go for renewable fuel. They will not publicly oppose it. In fact, it is a very good PR exercise for them to support renewable fuels because the people like it. In private, however, they don’t want it. In fact, nobody wants a [legal] mandate. They will not be given a choice so naturally they will be opposed to a mandate. They’ve been pushing that instead of a mandate it should be optional. But everybody knows that if you make it optional, no one will preblend.
If consumers see the advantage, demand will snowball, and they will be forced to preblend as well.
We hope that public clamor will get them to do that but that’s quite a heavy push on the information campaign. In fact that’s being done by USAID [United States Agency for International Development]. USAID is doing a lot of IEC [information, education and communication] on behalf of renewable fuels.

Is the supply of coconuts not a constraint for biodiesel?
You’ll be surprised that the Philippines is the biggest producer of coconut in the world. Right now, the world’s supply of coconut, I think, 70 percent comes from the Philippines. We have 1.4 million tons [of coco oil] produced last year. One million tons of that is exported. We are only consuming 400,000 tons. If we are to use that oil for making biodiesel, we will probably take up 7 percent of the portion that we export but there are still enough supply left.

Are you also selling biodiesel to other countries?
We have just started selling to three countries. Germany, Japan and some went to the US. We have just started. We will probably export to more countries when the new plant is up. That makes us the first and biggest biodiesel producer in Asia [it was inaugurated on April 5]. Once that plant starts up, we’ll be the biggest producer of biodiesel and we’ll be exporting all of these overseas until there is still no mandate here in the Philippines. So unless there is a mandate here, there won’t be very big volume sold locally. Most of it we’ll go export.

So overall the prospect for biodiesel is good.
The prospects are good but it needs more IEC. We have to educate the consumers. That’s the hardest part. You have to ask them to pay a premium because it’s a better product. You have to brand the product so they will recognize its additional features.

just beware of the current gloria administration.

during the time of ramos and estrada administrations, palawan was poised to become the riches province in the country. the province was expected to receive billions of dollars in the next few years when the extraction of gas from Malampaya starts. by virtue of a law (i think it is the local government code), the province is supposed to receive that billions of dollars as its share.

then came gloria and the rest was history. she claimed that malampaya is "off shore" palawan, thus the province has no right to receive the disputed share.

although the local court has decreed that palawan is entitled to the share, gloria still maintains that palawan is not entitled to the share and refuses to give the province our RIGHTFUL share.

that is the reason why palawan is solid anti-GMA.

lesson: the problem in the country really lies in the corrupt, greedy, selfish and self-centered leader.

ps: just imagine what she could do when cha cha pushes through...

Why blame PGMA. I don't think PGMA decides which is and not part of the province of Palawan. It's not her job to do that. Each province has it's own territorial jurisdiction when the province was established. In the case of Palawan's claim the Supreme Court could decide it with finality.

Hope we get Federalized so whatever taxes earned will go directly to your Federation and reverse the flow of money this time the National Government will be the one asking its share. Go for cha-cha.

jimbu: palawenos blame GMA bec she was the one who suddenly decided malampaya is not part of palawan. and you were right, we just have to wait for the final decision of the SC. we could only hope that when that time comes, our share would still be intact.

They would never take advantage of other countries. Americans are just but they do make blunders too. Just imagine what it would be like if China was the superpower instead of the USA. Even the Arabs would probably be impoverished and begging for food and water in the Chinese language. The Americans are present in the Middle East and making sure everybody observes their respective boundaries and laws. As far as I know, only the Fundamentalists are complaining. Here in the Philippines, it is the commies who are accusing the Americans of everything... including the stupid actions of our politicians. Question is sista, are you a commie

I don't think that it would change our situation enough even if they find a substantial oil and gas field. Our population is just to big for it to make any difference... add to that the corruption and we'd just end up like Indonesia.
you actually believe they don't take advantage of any country? For the love of God, what century do you live in. And by the way, Americans have always used the so called red scare to invalidate any argument against their oppressive foreign policies. they simply tag personalities critical of their policies as communists or commies, the same way they tagged Martin Luther King Jr. as a communist.

jimbu: palawenos blame GMA bec she was the one who suddenly decided malampaya is not part of palawan. and you were right, we just have to wait for the final decision of the SC. we could only hope that when that time comes, our share would still be intact.

Palawan is so rich with those white beaches, oil and gas. From tourism alone the national government has already earn much from its related industries. IMO, a shift to a federal system will put Palawan a very rich province

^^^ a rich province without cash..........

They would never take advantage of other countries. Americans are just but they do make blunders too.

We could argue exhaustively on whether American policies and influences are just or not, but this kind of mentality is exactly how foreign dominant states would like to impress upon and have you believe. The reality is, any sovereign state functions for its own, specific interest. It would be credulously naive to think otherwise.

whatever america is doing in the world is precisely because of its national interest policy

whcih is the reason why if we ever have to craft a sensible foreign policy... it has to serve our national interest and not other countries' interests.

whcih is the reason why if we ever have to craft a sensible foreign policy... it has to serve our national interest and not other countries' interests.

I agree.



2 pigeons ayaw matulog, lipad pa rin ng lipad.

Do we really have oil/petroleum in our country? I thought we only have natural gas in Palawan. Anyway, all our neighbors (Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia) have oil. So I think, it's not that impossible if we also have one.

^^ there is oil in palawan. the area where the natural gas is extracted also has oil, but they say its quantity is not viable commercially and that its extraction might affect the gas field. but the government wants to push through coz mahal na nga ang oil.
palawan produced oil in the 80's but that particular well had already dried up.

i heard that the government is trying to extract oil from the agusan marsh and other places in mindanao. sana naman makatulong ito especially sa ARMM para matulungan ang mga kapatid natin doon. They need economic emancipation aside from social emancipation.

Do we really have oil/petroleum in our country? I thought we only have natural gas in Palawan. Anyway, all our neighbors (Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia) have oil. So I think, it's not that impossible if we also have one.

we do produce oil, around 20,000+ barrels a day. Malaysia produces around 700,000+ barrels, and Indonesia, close to a million. The Malampaya oil reserves which haven't been tapped yet have only a few million barrels of oil in it, which makes extracting it unviable until oil prices get *really* high.

Imagine, teritoryo dapat natin yun Sabah e madami pa naman langis dun! ngayon kapwa pinoy pa natin pinapalayas dun! :bash:

The government is now asking various sectors to implement a more effective energy consumption especially with the current trend of the surging oil prices in the world market. This is aside from the contingency measures being done by the government. More so, the call to the legislature to pass pending bills regarding energy sufficiency is now being emphasized so as to alleviate this emerging problem.

kung binigyang pansin sana ng govt yung nakaimbento ng makina ng sasakyan na napapatakbo sa pamamagitan ng tubig, hindi sana gaano problema ang langis..

whcih is the reason why if we ever have to craft a sensible foreign policy... it has to serve our national interest and not other countries' interests.

I agree as to crafting our foreign policies to serve our national interests, BUT at the same time we should also realize that we are interdependent with other nations for our survival and progress. In crafting our foreign policies we also have to make it worth the while of other nations to give us their attention and patronage. We can best secure our national interests by putting into consideration what would benefit other nations as well.

i heard that the government is trying to extract oil from the agusan marsh and other places in mindanao. sana naman makatulong ito especially sa ARMM para matulungan ang mga kapatid natin doon. They need economic emancipation aside from social emancipation.

Economic and social emancipation would come to Mindanao under a federal system of government.

kung binigyang pansin sana ng govt yung nakaimbento ng makina ng sasakyan na napapatakbo sa pamamagitan ng tubig, hindi sana gaano problema ang langis..

This "water car" has never been proven to the government. If it were indeed genuine, rest assured that it would be in wide commercial use by now, and the world would never have problems with exorbitant oil prices.

The solution now is for the government to focus on developing alternative fuels that can be sourced locally like coco biodiesel and bioethanol, as well as promoting energy conservation measures. Legislators should focus on passing bills that could help deal with the energy crisis as well as have a positive general impact on the economy.

@heathcliff, im an advocate of federalism as well, but i won't go as far as claiming that it would bring social and economic emancipation as well... if we have to set forth the benefits of federalism, we shouldn't make claims just to justify it. i cannot see how it makes any sense... investing in ARMM will bring economic emancipation but you hyave to understand that it's social and political problems arise from the old political structures in palce, such as patronage politics and warlordism. you need something beyond just legislative action or constitutional overhaul such as shifting to a federal form of government to do that. you have to address the systemic failure of our political and social institutions... and these institutions cannot be simply solved by federalism alone because these institutions exist beyong mere governmental ciontrol... they will still exist even after constant changes in form of government and have existed despite changes in form of government. IF YOU WANT TO BE A GENUINE ADVOCATE OF FEDERALISM, YOU HAVE TO BE REALISTIC AND ADDRESS THE SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS FIRST BEFORE ADVOCATING FEDERALISM, OTHERWISE FEDERALISM WILL FAIL. AND IT WILL FAIL MISERABLY. THE SAME WAY AUTONOMY IS FAILING IN ARMM BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT DID NOT ADDRESS THE PROBLEM OF ANCESTRAL LANDS, WARLORDISM, NEPOTISM, AND LACK OF INTEGRATION OF THE BANGSAMORO INTO MAINSTREAM PHILIPPINE SOCIETY. THE BANGSAMORO REMAIN IN THE PERIPHERY AND WILL REMAIN THERE UNLESS THE ADVOCATES OF FEDERALISM LIKE YOU AND ME WILL ADDRESS THEIR IMMEDIATE AND LONGSTANDING PROBLMS FIRST.

Japan to explore Tanon oil potential


CEBU CITY – A Japanese firm has expressed interest in conducting exploratory drilling in the Tanon Strait between Cebu and Negros islands to study the potential sources of oil and natural gas there.

Engineer Eduardo Amante, acting director of the Department of Energy in Central Visayas (DOE-7), said the Japan Exploration Company (Japex) would invest 3 million US dollars to study the fossil fuel sources found underneath the Tanon Strait, a protected area.

Exploratory drilling is scheduled to start early 2007, Amante said.

Japex, one of five companies that the DOE contracted to conduct oil explorations in the Visayas, had already concluded its seismic surveys of Tanon Strait and found positive indications that there was a significant amount of fossil fuel deposits underneath the strait, he added.

Because of this assessment, Japex was prompted to immediately process their applications for an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) so that the company could immediately start the exploratory drilling.

Amante said the DOE has already given its full support for Japex, promising to endorse the company’s ECC application.

”They are very optimistic to find fossil fuels there. It’s either oil or natural gas and based on their initial findings, there seems to be a favorable result, which is why, they are confident,” he said.

A meeting has already been set between Japex representative and the energy department to discuss the company’s ECC requirements for the drilling.

The drilling would determine the significance of deposits under the Tanon Strait.

Expecting some resistance to the drilling from marine life advocates, Amante assured that the activity would follow all requirements set by law to mitigate the drilling’s impact on the environment.

The energy official said the entire country, especially the Visayas, would benefit from the exploration should a significant amount of oil or natural gas be pumped form under the strait.

DoE starts seismic oil exploration in Palawan


PUERTO PRINCESA CITY – In the midst of rising oil prices in the world market, the good news is the Department of Energy (DoE) has started seismic oil exploration of a new oil field in Palawan with an estimated 37.4 million barrels of oil deposits.

The project is jointly undertaken by DoE, Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) Philippines, and South China Resources (SCR).

The exploration area of about one million hectares is located at the vicinity of Imalaun Island in Barangay San Carlos, Cuyo northeast of Palawan.

The Malampaya oil field which is also located in Palawan has been extracting oil and gas the past few years.

The initial cost of the exploration is US $ 24 million (P1.17 billion).

Energy Undersecretary Guillermo Balce had briefed the Palawan Provincial Board about the exploration regarding Service Control No. 60 signed in last February.

The Cuyo oil field is considered “the most promising site” based on the findings of the Philippine Petroleum Resource Assessment Project Study which jointly conducted with the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD).

Balce said the exploration is still on the initial stage but it is believed the area has the potential of a huge oil reserve, particularly northwest of Palawan.

Vice Gov. David Ponce de Leon and Board Members Ernesto Llacuna, Vicky de Guzman and Gil Acosta would like to know the progress of the exploration on a regular basis.

why waste money on oil and try other alternative on getting energy such as thermal, dams or wind? how about that?

^^ dam... dependent sa water supply--not good during summer. wind... expensive and not a dependable source of electricity.

If we have oil reserves we should extract it and make use of it. Of course we can always use other alternative.:)

http://www.malampaya.com/web/index.html
http://www.malampaya.com/web/H_phil1.html#

ECONOMIC

Birth of the Philippines' Natural Gas Industry

The Malampaya Deep Water Gas to Power project is envisaged to provide the Philippines' with unparalleled revenue generation with the government generating some US$8-10 billion over a period of 20 years. This will help the government in its economic development programs for the country and in the establishment of necessary infrastructure to foster economic activity.

Likewise, the project reduces the country's dependence on imported fuel, thus improving its energy matrix. This will generate billions in dollars of savings for the government with the reduced need to purchase fuel overseas.

The 2,700 megawatt capacity of Malampaya will help spur the economic development of Luzon, ensuring the availability of power that industries will require for 20 years. The employment generated of over 4,000 Filipinos in the development for the project is also a key contribution of the project to the economy of the Philippines.


THE UPSTREAM PROJECT

The Malampaya Deep Water Gas to Power project entails the extraction of gas from 3,000 meters below the sea level which will flow through five subsea wellheads to a manifold in 820-meter water depth, through two 30-kilometer flowlines to a shallow water production platform where the gas is dried. The dried gas is then transported through a 504-kilometer subsea pipeline from the platform in offshore Palawan to the on-shore gas plant in Batangas where gas is further processed with the removal of hydrogen sulfide and finally delivered to three combined-cycle gas turbine power plants.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/reservoirdepth.jpg
The gas field is located some 3,000 meters below the sea level at water depths of 820-850 meters. This considered very deep in today's standards.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_projDb01.gif
The production platform located 30 kilometers away from the subsea system separates the gas, water and condensate. The condensate is temporarily stored at the cells of the platform base called the concrete gravity structure (CGS). The wet gas is dried and transported through the 504-kilometer pipeline.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_mpF01.gif
The CGS was built in Subic Bay and towed to its offshore location in June 2000. The top portion of the platform, the topsides, was built in Singapore and was towed to Palawan where it executed a world record in engineering with the float-over installation method.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pop_projDcmap.jpg
The 504-kilometer subsea high integrity steel pipeline has a diameter of 24 inches and is coated with concrete. It was laid within a period of five months using a dynamically-positioned pipelay vessel with very minimal disturbance to the seabed. An average lay rate of 5-7kilometers of pipes were laid during the period.

The field flowline and pipeline route selection, design and installation are at the forefront of deep water pipeline technology and is externally verified by Lloyd's register, a U.K.-based independent risk management organisation providing risk assessment and risk mitigation solutions and management systems certification around the world. The route of the pipeline was carefully selected to avoid environmentally sensitive areas and mass gravity flows.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pop_projD_c01.jpg
Pipelay vessel Solitaire laid pipes at a rate of 5-7 kilometers per day over a period of 5 months.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pop_projDd02.jpg
About 2 kilometers from the platform is the Catenary Anchored Leg Mooring (CALM) buoy, the component through which condensate is retrieved.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_projDe01.gif
An on-shore gas plant was constructed at a site adjacent to Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation's refinery in Batangas City where impurities are removed and the gas undergoes final treatment for delivery to customers.

The gas plant was constructed over a period of two years. It first received gas from the platform to the pipeline on September 24, 2001.


TECHNOLOGY

Extracting natural gas deposits in water depths of 820-850 meters and transporting this to its market over 300 kilometers away posed one of the greatest challenges in deep water developments in the world and required the use of the latest in gas technology and skills. The field contains recoverable natural gas reserves of some 2.7 trillion cubic feet and 85 million barrels of condensate 2,200 meters below the seabed (a total of 3,000 meters from the sea-level).

The principal technical challenge for SPEX is to ensure continuous delivery of sales specification gas throughout the production chain whilst containing costs and maintaining stringent Health, Safety and Environment standards.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/index.html

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_projE01.gif
http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_mpI01.gif

OUR CUSTOMERS
Three combined-cycle gas turbine power plants are being supplied with the processed gas to generate power: the 1,000MW Sta. Rita power plant, the 500MW San Lorenzo power plant and the 1,200MW Ilijan power plant. THe National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR), a government-owned power distribution company, owns the Ilijan power plant, while First Gas Power Corporation and FGP Corporation are the developers and operators of the Sta. Rita and San Lorenzo power plants

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_projDa01.jpg
http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_projDa01.jpg
The 1,000MW Sta. Rita and 500MW San Lorenzo power plant owned and operated by First Gas Corporation and FGP Corporation respectively.

http://www.malampaya.com/web/images/pic_projDa02.jpg
The National Power Corporation-owned 1,200 MW Ilijan power plant was built and is being operated by Kepco-FGP Corporation.

Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil company, launched yesterday the first non-toxic, biodegradable diesel engine cleaning technology in the market as part of its continuing efforts to promote a cleaner environment.

The new technology called "Carbon Flush" is a product of more than three years of continuing intense research and testing by Petron’s highly-qualified technical group.

"This is unique to the Philippines. We do hope that by launching this product, we also raise the awareness of our consumers with regard to the importance of keeping their vehicles properly maintained," Petron president and CEO Khalid Al-Faddagh said.

Al-Faddagh said the product is produced at Petron’s manufacturing plant in Pandacan.


Story (http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200606010707.htm)

^ This just goes to show that we are not limiting ourselves in our effort to pursue a cleaner environment. We all know that we need to sustain a cleaner environment if we wanted to be safe here.

Since this is unique in the country, we can cause the drive for a cleaner environment not only in the Philippines but to the world. Since we share the air all over the world, we must share this increased awareness that we have. More so, this will create awareness to owners of vehicles that they must contribute if they wanted a cleaner environment. After all, maintenance of their own cars should be their responsibility.

Our country is not that so rich in natural resources as most people think and brag that our country is rich in this and that. We need to wake up form all these old mentality abnd illusion becoz we are sliding backwards while our neighbors are moving forward and we are left with a veil of illusion thinking we are still way ahead like it is still the 60's and 70's.

If we are indeed that rich like what i hear from teachers in school and people everywhere then we could have become as rich saudi arabia or UAE or brunei (they even don't have considerably well educated and hard working population) in other words we are neither poor nor rich we are in the middle and must not rely on natural resources like we gamble with luck and hope for miracle of finding a vast oil reserve somewhere within our seas. Or even look in obataining all the spratlys.

The greatest asset we have is our people, we need to educate the people and if we focus on that the possibilities are limitless. Great examples of this are taiwan with no significant resources and also singapore and many other similar rich countries with same case also like israel. They rely on the well qualitied and well educated people to do their thing and not rely much on the avaible gift of resources mother nature offered them.

Edit

Shell: RP oil demand may drop 10% this year
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=41037

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., a unit of Royal Dutch Shell, said on Wednesday local fuel demand might drop another 10 percent this year from 2005 as consumption falls with sustained oil price increases.

The contraction in local demand was one of the factors that Shell would weigh in its current review of a possible expansion of its Philippine refinery, said Edgar Chua, country chairman of Pilipinas Shell.

Other factors included the long-term outlook in the industry, government support, the company's profitability, the development of biofuels and rising smuggling of diesel and gasoline.

Shutting the refinery was still an option, Chua said.

The Philippine oil industry's sales volume shrank 10 percent last year from 2004, with demand for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) -- used for cooking by many households -- down 25 percent.

"We are hoping it doesn't contract that much," Chua told reporters after addressing a business forum. "The indications are a five to 10 percent drop in fuel oil."

He said oil prices were likely to remain at high levels over the long term with continued demand from China, India, the United States and Japan, as well as uncertainties in the world market.

Pilipinas Shell had net income of P5.7 billion ($108 million) last year, nearly double the P2.98 billion in 2004.

But its return on average capital employed (ROACE), a ratio the company said measures its profitability more accurately, was just nine percent.

Between the beginning of the Philippine oil industry's deregulation in 1998 and 2005, the company's ROACE averaged just 3.7 percent.

"What we believe is a fair and reasonable return is a minimum of 15 percent," Chua said.

He said Shell was likely to finish the review of its refinery expansion plan by the end of this year or early 2007.

Shell's refinery in the Philippines has a capacity of 110,000 barrels per day (bpd), second only to the 180,000 bpd of Petron Corp.

Shell put its refinery business in the Philippines under review after rival Caltex (Philippines), owned by Chevron Corp., closed its 72,000-bpd refinery in late 2003 after years of falling refining margins.

Shell has said it would need a lead time of three years if it decided to expand its refinery to meet the higher fuel standards set by the country's clean air law.

It has said that an expansion of the refinery would require an investment of P30 billion to P60 billion.

Bill seen to spur ethanol production

By MELODY M. AGUIBA

The Senate is anticipated to pass this week the Biofuels Bill which should be ratified by July as incentives provided by the law will ensure that local ethanol production, seen in the first quarter of 2008, will take off.

The Philippines has been on wait and see for some time for an ethanol industry in the country to rise as the first ethanol plant was originally planned for operations by 2007.

It is apparent that since building a plant requires 18 months, the country may have to wait until the first quarter of 2008 for the first plant to begin running. That hope gleams now with Senate’s expected passage of the bill.

While the Senate version may not be popular for the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), SRA Administrator James Christopher Ledesma said it is best for Senate bill to be approved now.

"Let it pass, and then we’ll do the revisions later. Hopefully that will be faster than deliberate the differences in the floor," said Ledesma in an interview.

SRA is particular about not having any development or regulatory function under the Senate bill compared to the Lower House’s version, but such difference may be settled in the bicameral session.

The Philippines Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) has been pushing for the immediate approval of bill saying the country stands to benefit in 5 million savings for 10 years from displacement of imported crude oil.

But without provisions for incentives encouraging consumer use of the biological fuel, investors that expressed intention to infuse significant capital—one ethanol plant requires at least P1 billion—may never make it through.

"Investors are still waiting on the sideline. If this is passed into law, I think they’ll start doing it. That will really spur San Carlos to begin production," Ledesma said.

The San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. (SCBI) has been earlier expected to open ethanol production by 2007 with a cane milling throughput capacity of 1,500 metric tons (MT) daily. A joint venture of the National Development Co. and the Bronzeoak Philippines, SCBI will also have a co-generation plant with a nine megawatt capacity and a distillery producing 100,000 liters of ethanol per day.

PSMA Executive Director Jose Maria T. Zabaleta said the ethanol law will draw more planting of sugarcane, raise farmers’ income, and create more jobs, estimated at 87,100 people in the countryside. This is as demand for ethanol in the Philippines amounts to 161 million liters by crop year ending 2008, 379 million liters in 2011, 473 million liters in 2015, and 528 million liters in 2017.

SRA has so far identified expansion in sugarcane areas all over the country. This includes 16,918 hectares in Cagayan; 5,000, Kalinga; 12,337, Isabela; 8,000, Masbate; 6,400, Bohol; 20,808, Palawan; 45,000, Agusan del Norte/Sur; 19,035, Lanao del Norte; 15,000, South Cotabato; 69,550, Maguindanao; and 19,700, Saranggani.

The bill mandates blending of five percent ethanol to gasoline within two years from approval and 10 percent upon approval of the National Biofuels Board.

A clear, colorless alcohol produced from sugar and starch fermentation that is renewable as it comes from plants, ethanol is seen to best tap sugarcane for feedstock as sugarcane has carbohydrate content that is already in fermentable, simpler sugar form, PSMA said.

Breaking down into simpler sugar of starches and cellulose that contain carbohydrates may cost additional capital and operating costs. Besides, sugarcane belongs to the grass family and thus persists through dry spells and typhoons.(MMA)

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006060966323.html

^ If that will be the case, then we're getting close to an independent energy resource in the country. If and when this will be ratified by June, I am very much sure this would help us largely with our campaign to have be independent in terms of energy resources. We really need to pursue this because it's a problem that concerns not only us but also the world. Before we can have a shortage, we have already prevented it.

I was amazed with how the government has used the Fort Magsaysay camp, one of the largest camps our country has. For it is not only used by our military, but now it becomes a pilot farm for the cultivation of biodiesel producing jathropa plants all over the camp. Such initiative is in line with the president's order to plants jathropa plants because it is a good source of biodiesel.

Just posting this here instead of opening up a new thread ;)


SC orders closure of Pandacan oil depot

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 12:13pm (Mla time) 03/07/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Manila City government to shut down the Pandacan oil depot.

The 12-page unanimous decision of the high court’s first division, penned by Associate Justice Renato Corona directed Manila Mayor Lito Atienza to order businesses disallowed by a city ordinance -- including the Pandacan terminals of Caltex (Philippines), Inc., Petron Corporation and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation -- to cease and desist operations within six months of the local measure’s effectivity.

This decision stemmed from an original action for mandamus filed by the political party Social Justice Society (SJS) and Manila residents Vladimir T. Cabigao and Bonifacio S. Tumbokon asking the high court to compel Atienza to enforce a city ordinance that would shut down the Pandacan depot.

City Ordinance 8027, which was approved by the Manila City Council on November 28, 2001 and took effect on December 28 that same year, reclassifies portions of Pandacan and Sta. Ana from industrial to commercial.

The Supreme Court said the ordinance was within the delegated police power of local government units “to promote the order, safety, and health, morals, and general welfare of the society.”

“There is nothing that legally hinders [Mayor Atienza] from enforcing Ordinance No. 8027,” it said.

In fact, the high court said the Local Government Code “imposes upon Atienza the duty, as city mayor, to ‘enforce all laws and ordinances relative to the governance of the city.’ One of these is Ordinance No. 8027.”

“As the chief executive of the city, he has the duty to enforce Ordinance No. 8027 as long as it has not been repealed by the Sanggunian [Panglungsod or city council] or annulled by the courts,” it added. “He has no other choice. It is his ministerial duty to do so.”

Noting that the measure was enacted after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States, the high court recognized that “the objective of the ordinance is to protect the residents of Manila from the catastrophic devastation that will surely occur in case of a terrorist attack on the Pandacan terminals. No reason exists why such a protective measure should be delayed.”

However, on June 26, 2002, the Manila city government and the Department of Energy entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the oil companies which said “the scaling down of the Pandacan terminals [was] the most viable and practicable option.”

The city council ratified the MoU through Resolution No. 97 but declared it effective for only six months from July 25, 2002. However, it adopted yet another resolution extending the validity of Resolution No. 97 to April 30, 2003 and authorizing Atienza to issue special permits to the oil companies.

This prompted SJS, Cabigao and Tumbokon to file their petition before the high court.

^^ilang hectares ba ung mga oil depot na un sa pandacan?

PNOC eyes oil pipeline from Bataan to Metro Manila (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business2_april24_2007)

State-owned Philippine National Oil Co. and a foreign partner may put up a 45-kilometer petroleum pipeline that will link Metro Manila to the refinery of Petron Corp. in Bataan.

The move is seen to resolve the Pandacan depot issue that has long been festering oil companies.

A ranking PNOC official said the company was looking at the proposal of a European firm to team up in constructing the pipeline, estimated to cost $200 million, from Petron’s refinery in Limay, Bataan to a receiving terminal in Pulilan, Bulacan.

The 45-km oil pipeline will traverse through Manila Bay to Bulacan. The PNOC official said the pipeline could be completed within 18 months.

PNOC owns a 40 percent stake in Petron. The oil company, together with Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines (Caltex), jointly operate the Pandacan oil facility.

The PNOC official added that the European company acquired a 64-hectare property in Pulilan, Bulacan near the North Luzon Expressway. The property can be used as an alternative relocation site for the Pandacan oil depot.

He said the foreign investor also had existing project at the Coastal Road.

“Based on their proposal, they have already put a buffer zone in their property,” the official said.

The PNOC official said Bulacan was an ideal location for an oil warehouse because of its proximity to Metro Manila, which presently consumes 60 percent of Pandacan’s supply.

“Though the proposed facility will be directly beneficial for Petron as it can directly pump its products from Limay to Pulilan, other locators in Pandacan like Shell and Caltex could also use the facility if they like,” he said.

Financing will be shouldered by the European group, he said, stressing that it would be at no cost for PNOC.

Only PNOC and First Gen Corp. were granted a congressional franchise to put up pipeline facilities.

“The foreign group is making an offer to PNOC to undertake the project at no cost. They will give free equity in exchange for the PNOC franchise,” he said.

Oil companies said the abrupt closure of the Pandacan depot would trigger fuel shortage and affect major industries in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.

“The Pandacan Terminal is Metro Manila’s energy lifeline. Any abrupt closure will result in the immediate shortage of fuels,” they said in a position paper.

The terminal supplies 50 percent of the country’s total demand, including 1,800 retail stations in Metro Manila and outlying provinces, 70 percent of the shipping industry’s fuel needs nationwide, 90 percent of lubricants nationwide and 75 percent of aviation fuel nationwide.

“The closure of the terminals will affect most industries-transport, construction, food manufacturing, mining, power-generation, air and sea travel etc. This would consequently have a negative effect on the national economy,” the oil firms said.

They said there was no viable relocation site for the Pandacan depot despite calls to move the depot to the Harbor Center in Tondo.

just read this article, they mention 160 million barrels, is that a lot or??? i've no idea, they seem to be pretty excited about this, and given the fact, that oil prices are rising, this would mean a big boost to the philippine economy.

Search for oil to begin off Antique coast


By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
Last updated 05:53am (Mla time) 07/30/2007


ILOILO CITY -- A Malaysian oil exploration firm and the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. will start drilling operations next month to confirm oil deposits estimated to reach 160 million barrels off the coast of Culasi town in Antique province.

If confirmed, the oil deposits could be the biggest in the country, according to outgoing Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.

“We are hoping for positive results. This would mean a lot to the energy independence of the country,” Lotilla told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lotilla said the government had contracted the Malaysian-owned Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd (PCOSB) to drill exploration wells at an area located 12 kilometer south of Maniguin Island in Culasi town, around 61 km north of the capital town of San Jose.

The site, which is 58 km from Boracay Island and 260 km from Batangas province, is part of the exploration site of PNOC-EC and PCOSB covering 14,667 sq km east and south of Mindoro Island and west of Panay Island.

It is considered one of the most attractive exploration areas situated in the same geologic region of northwest Palawan where the Malampaya natural gas reserves are located.

Positive results, more wells

Lotilla said the drilling of an exploration well reaching 140 meters underwater would start in the third week of August and last for a month. He said more wells would be drilled if the operation should yield positive results.

Drilling one well is estimated to cost around $20 million, said Raymundo Savella, PNOC-EC exploration manager.

The entire exploration operation would last seven years at the maximum, depending on the results of the digging of wells, sample analyses and studies, he said.

The first phase -- taking from one to two years -- involves the drilling of one well and acquiring data. If the results are positive, the operation will proceed to the second phase, which is expected to last for two years and involves the drilling of another well and getting more data.

The last phase, which is expected to last for three years involves the drilling of two more wells.

According to Savella, the exploration will be called off during any of the phases if the results would not confirm a significant volume of oil deposits.

The exploration contract is extendable for three years. The development and production period covers 25 years and is renewable for a series of five-year periods but shall not exceed 15 years.

Exploration and sampling were done in the area more than a decade ago by various exploration firms but the data gathered showed only a small volume of potential oil reserves.

Richest in Southeast Asia

Recent studies, however, showed a larger volume of oil reserves, said Savella.

Data taken at the site off Maniguin Island confirmed the presence of high quality petroleum source rocks capable of generating large amounts of oil. The source is considered one of the richest in Southeast Asia, according to PNOC-EC data.

Savella said the exploration to confirm the potential oil reserves could not start earlier because they had to look for investors to underwrite the exploration, which could cost $80 million.

Lotilla said that if the reserves are confirmed, 60 percent of the net proceeds would go to the national government while the service contractor would get 40 percent.

Of the 60 percent share of the national government, 40 percent would go to the local government unit.

Antique Gov. Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez said the people were hopeful the results of the exploration would be positive.

“We are crossing our fingers. This would be a big help to our economy,” Perez said in a telephone interview.

saya saya sana hindi masira ang marine site

just read this article, they mention 160 million barrels, is that a lot or???

The Philippines consume approx 350,000 bpp...so that represents about 15 months of supply...give or take?

Instead of drilling for more oil and potentially ruining the pristine waters of that part of the Philippines, why not spend money in developing renewable energy?

@lazybum

they are doing a lot when it comes to alternative energy sources, but that does not mean to miss out on the opportunities that are there, for example these oil deposits.

Years ago there was also a news about the Malampaya oil reserve. It is somewhere in Palawan if I am not mistaken. This new discovery in Antique is another opportunity for us to find alternative resources of oil and fuel. Alternative oil and fuel resources would mean less importation of expensive crude products abroad. As said in the news article, if the oil explorations are successful, it would also be a big help to our economy.

@zeejay

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!

^^ I hope no more Guimaras tragedy again :ohno:

from lazybum's estimate it will only take 15 months to consume ( asumming we use it.) do you think it's worth the dig ?

^^ I hope no more Guimaras tragedy again :ohno:

from lazybum's estimate it will only take 15 months to consume ( asumming we use it.) do you think it's worth the dig ?

If it could save us millions/billions then why not.

Guimaras tragedy happened during transport.

I drill oil for a living.
Right now - I'm in an offshore drilling rig in the gulf of Mexico.

I don't think its enough oil to take a chance on ruin beachfronts like Boracay.
Maybe in the future but not now. That would be like drilling in Florida.

I agree with
zeejay " Alternative oil and fuel resources would mean less importation of expensive crude products abroad. As said in the news article, if the oil explorations are successful, it would also be a big help to our economy."
alo "they are doing a lot when it comes to alternative energy sources, but that does not mean to miss out on the opportunities that are there, for example these oil deposits."

We just can't abandon trying to drill for oil and gas reserves in the Philippines. I'm pretty sure they have a budget or people working on alternative energy sources.

Lazybum, Just curious which alternative sources do you think we should research on?

If it could save us millions/billions then why not.

Guimaras tragedy happened during transport.

well oil rigs are worst from spillage and fire accident imo.

Lazybum, Just curious which alternative sources do you think we should research on?

I'm not an expert on this subject but I have friends in the renewable energy industry. They were telling me that small countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc with very large population are going to be limited in terms of growing their renewable energy resources. However, ASEAN collectively, can easily offset that disadvantage.

I would look at Brazil as a model for renewables. I think Brazil grows approx 45% of its energy needs. If the leaders of ASEAN believes that energy is going to be their major hurdles in the coming years, and no doubt it will be, I would urge them to consider increasing their ethanol production buy expanding sugar, palm oil, etc acreage and building centralized ethanol processing plants that will serve the region. Now that ASEAN is on the verge of forming an economic grouping ala EU, I think , if there is political will, they can easily do this.

Nuclear energy should also be considered in any discussion about increasing energy resources.

^^ I'm not an expert on this subject but I have friends in the renewable energy industry. They were telling me that small countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc with very large population are going to be limited in terms of growing their renewable energy resources. However, ASEAN collectively, can easily offset that disadvantage.

I would look at Brazil as a model for renewables. I think Brazil grows approx 45% of its energy needs. If the leaders of ASEAN believes that energy is going to be their major hurdles in the coming years, and no doubt it will be, I would urge them to consider increasing their ethanol production buy expanding sugar, palm oil, etc acreage and building centralized ethanol processing plants that will serve the region. Now that ASEAN is on the verge of forming an economic grouping ala EU, I think , if there is political will, they can easily do this.

Nuclear energy should also be considered in any discussion about increasing energy resources.

Wow - they must be reading my post!!^^

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/37e26244-a486-11db-b0ef-0000779e2340,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F37e26244-a486-11db-b0ef-0000779e2340.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fhome%2Fasia

well oil rigs are worst from spillage and fire accident imo.

I respect your opinion.


But with thousands of drilling rig operating around the world throughout the years.
I would just like to ask if you have statistics about spillage and fires accidents from drilling rigs?



Even though drilling rigs are not popular with some people -
People who have been in the industry or have actually witnessed can tell you that the rigs have done a great job improving safety and being clean.
People who have step on a drilling rig knows what I mean.


Drilling oil is a dangerous activity. You are dealing with heavy machines and very high pressure underneath the earth.
That is why safety is usually the number 1 concern out here. All these drilling company don't want to lose a rig due to fire.
It takes them 3 to 4 years to make 1 rig. They are not easily replaced.


Do we have any alternative means of drilling oil right now?
I agree and support the research for alterative source of energy but at the same time there is no way we can just abandon drilling oil and gas.

I'm not an expert on this subject but I have friends in the renewable energy industry. They were telling me that small countries like the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc with very large population are going to be limited in terms of growing their renewable energy resources. However, ASEAN collectively, can easily offset that disadvantage.

I would look at Brazil as a model for renewables. I think Brazil grows approx 45% of its energy needs. If the leaders of ASEAN believes that energy is going to be their major hurdles in the coming years, and no doubt it will be, I would urge them to consider increasing their ethanol production buy expanding sugar, palm oil, etc acreage and building centralized ethanol processing plants that will serve the region. Now that ASEAN is on the verge of forming an economic grouping ala EU, I think , if there is political will, they can easily do this.

Nuclear energy should also be considered in any discussion about increasing energy resources.


I agree with you that Brazil would be a great model for Ethanol.
They have completely switch their infastructure to accomodate Ethanol.
Most of the cars run on ethanol. Perfect Picture of planning ahead.


However, Its just not that simple.
According to some - the effects of this is the increase in price of food.
We need lots and lots of land to plant sugar - this would pretty much displace land that would be used for food.
So supply and demand. We get cheaper energy but more expensive price for food.
If i'm not mistaken that's whats going on in Brazil.


IMHO wind, solar and even hydrogen are the onces I'd like to see.
But like you i'm also not an expert on this subject... :lol:

I agree with you that Brazil would be a great model for Ethanol.
They have completely switch their infastructure to accomodate Ethanol.
Most of the cars run on ethanol. Perfect Picture of planning ahead.

However, Its just not that simple. According to some - the effects of this is the increase in price of food. We need lots and lots of land to plant sugar - this would pretty much displace land that would be used for food. So supply and demand. We get cheaper energy but more expensive price for food.
If i'm not mistaken that's whats going on in Brazil.

IMHO wind, solar and even hydrogen are the onces I'd like to see.
But like you i'm also not an expert on this subject... :lol:

I am in total agreement with your observation. I just want to add that IMO, I also think that energy conservation should be part of any government plan to increase renewable energy.

I am in total agreement with your observation. I just want to add that IMO, I also think that energy conservation should be part of any government plan to increase renewable energy.

I Agree! Enrergy Conservation...

But I might have a dictatorial view or enforcement on energy conservation... :lol:

I agree with you that Brazil would be a great model for Ethanol.
They have completely switch their infastructure to accomodate Ethanol.
Most of the cars run on ethanol. Perfect Picture of planning ahead.


However, Its just not that simple.
According to some - the effects of this is the increase in price of food.
We need lots and lots of land to plant sugar - this would pretty much displace land that would be used for food.
So supply and demand. We get cheaper energy but more expensive price for food.
If i'm not mistaken that's whats going on in Brazil.


IMHO wind, solar and even hydrogen are the onces I'd like to see.
But like you i'm also not an expert on this subject... :lol:



well in the first place ethanol energy is not only come from sugar , we can have ethanol from coconut , tuba-tuba etc. . I don't agree w/ you that we need more lands to fill the need of ethanol sources ,we still top in coco export in the world . the prob. w/ increase in food price is lack of management.We just need to balance our food & energy sources .Ethanol is renewable & clean , it's just our gov't lack the initiative in renewable energy.

btw i am not against oil drilling...for now ,but digging in that part of our country can be a BIG disaster , i don't mind if it is in the Philippine deep or off Palawan .

Explorations confirm
presence of oil in Antique


SAN JOSE, Antique: The joint venture of the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) Exploration Corporation and the Petronas Carigali Overseas on oil exploration confirmed the presence of crude petroleum deposits off Maniguin Island in Culasi, Antique.

Gov. Salvacion Perez confirmed the presence of oil in the area as established by the exploration. Likewise, former Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said an estimated 160 million barrels of petroleum crude oil is found in the area based on the study conducted by the PNOC.

The area under exploration covers 1,466,700 hectares, which includes offshore areas east and south of Mindoro and West Panay. The joint undertaking of exploration, classified as “Exploration Wildcat,” proposes to dig approximately 160 meters deep well (KAMIA-1).

The exploration was awarded on January 2005 with contract terms of exploration for a period of seven years—divided into three subphases. Currently, the exploration is on the first sub-phase with Service Contract 47.

Under the joint venture, Petronas Carigali Overseas shall lead the discovery with a percentage share of 80 percent of the exploration while 20 percent of the responsibility will be under the supervision of PNOC’s Exploration Corporation. The exact location of the exploration is at (latitude) 11°30' 15.407” N, (longitude) 121°38' 42.089” E.

Raymundo Savilla, PNOC exploration manager, said the oil deposit is believed to be connected with the Malampaya gas pipe line in Palawan. Salvilla said oil presence in the area was accidentally discovered when oil slicks attributed to diesel used in mud system, reservoir sands, and oil-prone source rocks were detected.

Lotilla said the oil exploration, located some 12 kilometers off Maniguin Island belonging to the municipality of Culasi in Antique province, is very significant in the country’s re*surging petroleum exploration industry as this will be the first well to be drilled in the last three years.

Environmental concerns

The place of exploration is only 58 kilometers away from Boracay Island, the country’s top tourist destination. However, to allay fears of oil seepage and other untoward incident that would cause environmental hazards, Lotilla assures the public that oil exploration, and later its production would comply strictly with environmental laws.

“The drilling operations for the wells [KAMIA-1] will conform to the PNOC-Exploration Corporation’s health, safety and environment (HSE) policy and DENR regulations,” Lotilla emphasized.

A certificate of Non-Coverage (CNC) from the DENR’s Environment and Management Bureau (EBB) of Region VI issued on August 2, 2006, that will comply with established environmental regulations and policies for exploration projects.

Lotilla said the consortium will also secure an ECC from DENR after the exploration is done and during the drilling operation to formulate a mechanism for protecting the environment.

Lotilla said that based on the thrust for energy independence despite the oil crisis feared to hit the country, the promotion of oil and gas exploration is a very significant undertaking.

Besides the Maniguin exploration, there are others being conducted in the area of Sulu Sea near Palawan by Middle East-based, American and British companies.

Petronas will pay for the cost of exploration and developing of the area and will get 80 percent of the profit while the rest will go to the national and local government. Maniguin would be the drop-off point of the project.

I respect your opinion.


But with thousands of drilling rig operating around the world throughout the years.
I would just like to ask if you have statistics about spillage and fires accidents from drilling rigs?



Even though drilling rigs are not popular with some people -
People who have been in the industry or have actually witnessed can tell you that the rigs have done a great job improving safety and being clean.
People who have step on a drilling rig knows what I mean.


Drilling oil is a dangerous activity. You are dealing with heavy machines and very high pressure underneath the earth.
That is why safety is usually the number 1 concern out here. All these drilling company don't want to lose a rig due to fire.
It takes them 3 to 4 years to make 1 rig. They are not easily replaced.


Do we have any alternative means of drilling oil right now?
I agree and support the research for alterative source of energy but at the same time there is no way we can just abandon drilling oil and gas.

But still it's not 100% safe and w/ oil tankers crisscrossing that sea lane do you think it's more safer now than the guimaras tragedy?

But still it's not 100% safe and w/ oil tankers crisscrossing that sea lane do you think it's more safer now than the guimaras tragedy?

I don't think you can find anything that is 100% safe.

If you are adding the accidents/spills of oil tankers to the stats of drilling rigs.
Then I think that is not a fair assesment to drilling rigs.

Drilling rigs - Drill.
Oil Tankers - Transpost Oil.

With every tragedy you would think that people would be more careful
and put more measures to ensure that the tragedy won't happen again.
So Yes - I would think that its safer.

I do Agree (like what i posted before) lNo Drilling in areas where we have nice beaches like Boracay.

That would be like drilling in Florida.

But still it's not 100% safe and w/ oil tankers crisscrossing that sea lane do you think it's more safer now than the guimaras tragedy?


there was so many oil rigs in the north sea, in persian gulf, in Bombay high, in Java sea and even in Darvel Bay near Tawau and Tawi Tawi but not heard any oil spillage from oil drilling rigs. actually after drilling oil, they will put oil wells that pump oil and bring them to a colecting point via undersea pipe.

actually it is not really dangerous even there was so many tankers crisscrossing the sea. in areas where there were many oil rigs and production platforms, the sea is delineated, there is sealanes reserved only for coastal shippings, for other vessel, and for vessels of maximum deadweight ... those huge oil tankers. In every sealanes there were tugboats and other kind of crafts whose main job is to look out for those vessels not following the c orrect traffic zone. and any vessel dangerously moving towards or drifting towards the oil drilling area / oil platforms, those tugs will approach the ship's bow and turn them around at the same they will siren / use radio to wake up
those ship officers sleeping during their watch. Or they will jsut pushed those vessels way from the oil rigs and oilfields.

there were many occassions in the north sea when those ship's officers and master (captain) were drinking heavily and once on duty they fall sleep not knowing that their vessel is wandering off- course. the caucasians were usually those seafarers who heavily drink alcoholic during their stay at sea. so the main danger with oil rigs was alcohol and sleeping.

I was a junior ship officer before when I worked in a big oil tanker transporting oil from Persian gulf to Japan and to other parts of the world.

I have also experienced working in a supply boat bringing supplies to oil rigs and sometimes we are detailed to watch any incoming / stray craft proceeding toward the oil rigs. also I have been onboard a drill ship just to buy duty free cigarettes etc. I have been in major oil fields in the persian gulf, bombay high, java sea and in the Tawau / Sandakan area adjacent to the present demarcation boundary between sabah and sulu.

I do Agree (like what i posted before) lNo Drilling in areas where we have nice beaches like Boracay.

That would be like drilling in Florida.


If we can get more revenues in oil drilling and eventual production of oil near Boracay, then why not close Boracay and advertize and lured tourist to our islands in the south china sea, panglao bohol, etc.

everything is a balancing act. but the development of these oil fields would be a big boost to that region and the country as a whole.

there r always risks, zero-risk is not possible, but doing everything to keep the environment safe is a major requirement. i dont think developing these oilfields excludes taking care of the environment.

photos of drilling rigs:


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/drill3.jpg

this is a jackup rig. it will be towed to the site then the four legs will be lowered and jacked up to the seabed till the rquired height for the work platform is reached.

other kind of oil drilling rig is a drill ship.



http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/drill2.jpg





http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/drill4.jpg

a jack up rig fully raised and operational





http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/dril1.jpg

a tanker loading in production platform

a sample of traffic separation scheme in a Dammam port in Saudi Arabia.

the traffic scheme on a navigational charts (maps) is more detailed.


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/traffic.jpg


so those vessels contravening the rules will be pushed away and later the
arabs will make them an eunoch.... :)



ang problema sa Pinas, ang mga tao hindi sumusunod sa traffic, tigas ulo.

there was so many oil rigs in the north sea, in persian gulf, in Bombay high, in Java sea and even in Darvel Bay near Tawau and Tawi Tawi but not heard any oil spillage from oil drilling rigs. actually after drilling oil, they will put oil wells that pump oil and bring them to a colecting point via undersea pipe.

actually it is not really dangerous even there was so many tankers crisscrossing the sea. in areas where there were many oil rigs and production platforms, the sea is delineated, there is sealanes reserved only for coastal shippings, for other vessel, and for vessels of maximum deadweight ... those huge oil tankers. In every sealanes there were tugboats and other kind of crafts whose main job is to look out for those vessels not following the c orrect traffic zone. and any vessel dangerously moving towards or drifting towards the oil drilling area / oil platforms, those tugs will approach the ship's bow and turn them around at the same they will siren / use radio to wake up
those ship officers sleeping during their watch. Or they will jsut pushed those vessels way from the oil rigs and oilfields.

there were many occassions in the north sea when those ship's officers and master (captain) were drinking heavily and once on duty they fall sleep not knowing that their vessel is wandering off- course. the caucasians were usually those seafarers who heavily drink alcoholic during their stay at sea. so the main danger with oil rigs was alcohol and sleeping.

I was a junior ship officer before when I worked in a big oil tanker transporting oil from Persian gulf to Japan and to other parts of the world.

I have also experienced working in a supply boat bringing supplies to oil rigs and sometimes we are detailed to watch any incoming / stray craft proceeding toward the oil rigs. also I have been onboard a drill ship just to buy duty free cigarettes etc. I have been in major oil fields in the persian gulf, bombay high, java sea and in the Tawau / Sandakan area adjacent to the present demarcation boundary between sabah and sulu.

That's pretty good stuff!

So I take it that you got your sea legs? :lol:

I salute you guys. I've been on 10-12 hr boat rides with 6-10 ft of waves going to the rig. Its not fun.
I have so much respect for people who work on boats.
Di ko kasi kaya youn.


Drilling near Boracay - I always compare to drilling in Florida. It would a last resort. Like here in the states they want to lessen the dependency on oil - they can take a shot at drilling in Florida but so much politics is involved with the environment and the possible lost revenue if the drilling ruins Florida's nice beach.

I bet there will come a time when they will have to drill in Florida. Same as Boracay - we will need to drill there in the future but i'm not sure if its today. I'm sure there are other spots where we can try to explore before we go near our beaches.

I do agree with Alo - its a balancing act. It would be nice if can produce oil or gas like Indonesia.

I don't think you can find anything that is 100% safe.

If you are adding the accidents/spills of oil tankers to the stats of drilling rigs.
Then I think that is not a fair assesment to drilling rigs.

Drilling rigs - Drill.
Oil Tankers - Transpost Oil.

With every tragedy you would think that people would be more careful
and put more measures to ensure that the tragedy won't happen again.
So Yes - I would think that its safer.


yes it's not 100% but that sea lane is so narrow that the riskfactor is more bigger , so do you think there is no interaction between the tankers & the rig? don't get me wrong i have great respect who captians oil tankers ( i know bec i have a friend who's father steered oil tanker) . tankers will deal w/ small boats , ferrys and fishing boats.

there was so many oil rigs in the north sea, in persian gulf, in Bombay high, in Java sea and even in Darvel Bay near Tawau and Tawi Tawi but not heard any oil spillage from oil drilling rigs. actually after drilling oil, they will put oil wells that pump oil and bring them to a colecting point via undersea pipe.

actually it is not really dangerous even there was so many tankers crisscrossing the sea. in areas where there were many oil rigs and production platforms, the sea is delineated, there is sealanes reserved only for coastal shippings, for other vessel, and for vessels of maximum deadweight ... those huge oil tankers. In every sealanes there were tugboats and other kind of crafts whose main job is to look out for those vessels not following the c orrect traffic zone. and any vessel dangerously moving towards or drifting towards the oil drilling area / oil platforms, those tugs will approach the ship's bow and turn them around at the same they will siren / use radio to wake up
those ship officers sleeping during their watch. Or they will jsut pushed those vessels way from the oil rigs and oilfields.

there were many occassions in the north sea when those ship's officers and master (captain) were drinking heavily and once on duty they fall sleep not knowing that their vessel is wandering off- course. the caucasians were usually those seafarers who heavily drink alcoholic during their stay at sea. so the main danger with oil rigs was alcohol and sleeping.

I was a junior ship officer before when I worked in a big oil tanker transporting oil from Persian gulf to Japan and to other parts of the world.

I have also experienced working in a supply boat bringing supplies to oil rigs and sometimes we are detailed to watch any incoming / stray craft proceeding toward the oil rigs. also I have been onboard a drill ship just to buy duty free cigarettes etc. I have been in major oil fields in the persian gulf, bombay high, java sea and in the Tawau / Sandakan area adjacent to the present demarcation boundary between sabah and sulu.

but we all know the sorrounding of the rigs is black(oil) , it may not be in spillage maybe from seeping . and those you mentioned areas majority are in open seas . i know you know the guimaras/mindoro area and how narrow and busy that lane is . i agree w/ you the problem will be our local seamen . btw i got concern bec when i did travelled by ship from Manila to Davao , i almost encountered 2 tragedies , 1 in Bataan area where a near collision & the pakiputan straight( Davao Gulf) another from near collision :ohno:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/southchinaseaoil130pct.jpg

[Quote]
yes it's not 100% but that sea lane is so narrow that the riskfactor is more bigger , so do you think there is no interaction between the tankers & the rig? don't get me wrong i have great respect who captians oil tankers ( i know bec i have a friend who's father steered oil tanker) . tankers will deal w/ small boats , ferrys and fishing boats. [Quote]


I have checked the area near the supposed drilling site for oil exploration, the width of the narrowest point is 20 miles, it is wide enough for general shipping. tankers, freighters, etc..


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/tablasstrait.jpg

looking at this map you can see that other vessels coming from Manila or West Luzon bound for Mindanao ports can pass via Mindoro strait instead of Tablas Strait, northbound traffic can also skip that place in Tablas strait where a future oil drillling site is expected. Mindoro strait is more safer to pass than Tablas strait


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/boracay.jpg

the clearance space on the navigable narrowest point in that Tablas Strait is about 20 miles, wide enough for north-bound and south-bound traffic provided there is a traffic zone. (also depending on the depth which can be checked on a navigational chart). Also it is in the collision rules that big vessel on entering narrow channel vessel should proceed at Safe speed.


About interaction it only happen when the distance between a very fast moving vessel and another fast moving vessel or stationary object or oil rig is less than 1 mile. However those areas suirrounding an oil rigs or an oil plat limits is off limits to other vessek up to about 2 to 5 miles depending on the applicable regulations on that area.

And those big tankers maneuvering near an oil production platform were guided by high powered tugboats which can easily push or pull those tankers away from danger Or if they were deviating from the course or going outside the prescribed sealanes.

[Quote]
but we all know the sorrounding of the rigs is black(oil) , it may not be in spillage maybe from seeping . and those you mentioned areas majority are in open seas . i know you know the guimaras/mindoro area and how narrow and busy that lane is . i agree w/ you the problem will be our local seamen . btw i got concern bec when i did travelled by ship from Manila to Davao , i almost encountered 2 tragedies , 1 in Bataan area where a near collision & the pakiputan straight( Davao Gulf) another from near collision. [Quote]


the small spillage in an oil rig (if there is) compared with the huge amount of ballast water mixed with oil and oil sludge illegally discharged by those foreign or local vessels in Manila Bay or in any Philippine port (while our Coast Guard is sleeping), is like comparing a carabao with a dragon fly :) btw, I have experienced I ws in a US owned / flag Supply boat for six months in the Persian Gulf and we were on stand-by beside an Oil rig for 3 months and I never seen or noticed any spillage of oil from an Oil Rigs.


I have checked the distance between the narrowest point in that area and it is wide enough for general shipping, of course with limitations to the depth and the draft of the vessel (the submerged area of the vessel, besides the government can implement a VTIS - Vessel Traffic Information System and Traffic Separation Scheme on that area once oil drilling started.

Below were samples of Vessel Traffic Separation implemented in many countries in the world
approved by the International Maritime Organizatioin.


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/spore.jpg




http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/japan.jpg


of course all these Traffic Separation Scheme also depends if our Coast Guard or the PNP Maritime Police will check that no vessel is contravening the rules. About vessel’s collision it only depends if the Captain of the ship and his Officers to follow the law and regulations on preventing ship’s collision.

IMG]http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/palawan-1.jpg[/IMG]





http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/nidogalocmap.jpg





http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/NIdooilrig.jpg




http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/Nido-to-boost-Philippine-exploration/2007/05/21/1179601331407.html

Nido to boost Philippine exploration
May 21, 2007 - 9:54PM

Australia's Nido Petroleum Ltd said it would more than double to $US82.6 million ($A100 million) its expenditures for oil exploration in the Philippines.

The firm had previously committed to spend $US36 million ($A43.7 million) to search for oil and gas in the country between 2006 and 2008.

"It represents the minimum expenditure that we have contracted to perform on our service contracts," Bryce Martin, president of Nido Petroleum Philippines Ltd, told reporters.

Nido has interests in five exploration projects in the Philippines, including the Galoc oilfield off the coast of Palawan in western Philippines which is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2008.

The firm has a 22.279 per cent interest in Galoc, which is forecast to produce 17,500 barrels per day (bpd), raising the Philippines' oil production to up to 42,500 bpd.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/malampaya.jpg




http://www.paf.mil.ph/af_review/vol2-1/text/first_force_security_implication%20BY%20mendoza.htm


The Malampaya gas field was discovered by Shell Philippines Exploration (SPEX) in 1992. However, it was not easily explored due to Shell Philippines Exploration service contract with Occidental Philippines. Nonetheless, when Shell acquired the remaining fifty percent (50%) of Occidental Philippines' interest in the service contract, it paved the way for the development of the Malampaya Natural Gas Project. The total investment required in the development of the Malampaya Project amounted around US$4.5 billion. This project represents the largest and most significant industrial investment in Philippine business. With explorations confirming the presence of 85 million barrels of condensate and at least 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the operation of the project will successfully supply gas available for power plant operations for the next 20 years.


This is equivalent to 30% of the country's petroleum requirement for the same period which will surely allow the government a savings of around US$4.5 Billion. On the other hand, the project will not only improve the country's energy requirement but it is also expected to provide additional revenues in the amount of US$8.07 Billion. This is entirely based on a scheme where the government gets 60% of the total net proceeds as stipulated in the contract. In addition, the Armed Forces of the Philippines could also benefit from the Malampaya power project that will provide revenue stream for the defense establishment in line with its Modernization Program. A bill has been filed in Congress allocating to the AFP Trust Fund the share of the government from taxes and charges collected from the Malampaya project.

However, a major consideration associated to Malampaya operation is the security and protection of the area of operation specifically related facilities and platforms. In line with this, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation No. 72 establishing safety and exclusion zones around the area of the Malampaya operation. In addition, the Armed Forces of the Philippines was mandated to undertake the necessary measures in the implementation and enforcement of the established safety and exclusion zones.

The establishments of safety and exclusion zones prohibit the conduct of certain activities within the area without authorization from the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of National Defense (DND) and Shell Philippines, respectively. Moreover, an inter-agency committee was established to develop comprehensive strategy and plan in the effective implementation and enforcement of safety and exclusion zones. However, the main responsibility lies with the Armed Forces of the Philippines as mandated by the President and as being the defense force in the country.





The security requirements by the operation of the Malampaya Natural Gas Project in the established safety and exclusion zones demand control of the air spaces, surface and sub-surface in the area in order to deter hostile intrusion. The concept of a joint security force will cover areas of possible threat and will be stationed near the facilities and platforms. Likewise, regular naval patrol and maritime air surveillance will be provided in the safety zones and adjacent exclusion areas. Undeniably, the western area of the Malampaya station, which is an international sea-lane communication, is vulnerable to covert intrusion in any form of attack. Furthermore, the ongoing activities near the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) pose another peril in the security of the Malampaya operation. Worst, is the intensified terroristic activities deeply involved in economic saboteurs such as the recent attack of World Trade Center and the destruction of Brazil's oil rig.

The estimated Hydrocarbon deposits broken down as oil is about 1.748 billion barrels (US$26.220 Trillion) and as gas approximately 16,766 billion cubic feet (US$46 Billion). Hence, security must be provided for unhampered exploration. The Philippine Air Force has the primary concern of securing the country's outer zone of defense that involves active air defense. However, in the light of the Malampaya operation, there are still important aspects of air power application aside from tactical operations such as search and rescue missions, airlift operations, counter air operations, close air support and interdiction. Certainly, the development of air power as the primary defense posture of the country has limited its application in the internal security operations.



http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/mampalaya3.jpg


Today, the Philippine Air Force struggles a strategic shift in the employment of air power capability towards external defense. The role of air power is inherently associated in the preservation of our national security and territorial integrity. The current security requirement of the Malampaya Gas Project illustrates the necessity of paradigmatic shift from internal concerns to external concerns. Indeed, the project is situated at a strategic doorway - characteristically adjacent to a critical area of sea-lane of communication and transportation.

Though limited in resources and capability, the PAF continue to provide air assets committed in securing the Malampaya area in performing maritime patrols.



The serious issue regarding the limited capability of the PAF to provide effective security for the Malampaya needs to be addressed by the National Government and Congress through the immediate acquisition of modern equipment. Moreover, the AFP must fully realize the importance of air power application as the vital cog of our national defense posture. In the global scene, the current war against terrorism waged by the United States against Afghanistan affirms the decisiveness of air power application in the settlement of modern armed conflict. Moreover, the painful and costly lessons of history during World War I and II, Korean War, Bosnian War and the Gulf War attested to the success of air power. The outbreak of war in Mindanao tailored by the secessionists group confirmed the airworthiness of the PAF roles as an independent and distinct force in the suppression of enemy forces.

In conclusion, the Philippine Air Force defines air power encompassing both military and economic endeavor. As a result, the PAF addresses both internal and external defense and serves as the partner of the government in national development efforts. Now, it's about time for the government to look for alternative sources of funds to implement the PAF Modernization Program to address in particular the Malampaya project and in general the Philippine sovereignty.

1 SPEX, "Malampaya Deep Water to Gas Project Brochures and Pamphlets", p.
2 Department of Energy and US DNR Technical Assistant Division

---------------------------------------------------------------------


http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/malampaya2.jpg

PALAWAN is surging forward in the drive for economic development in the new millennium partly through the Camago-Malampaya natural gas field in northwestern Palawan, considered the single biggest investment in the country today.

Shell Philippines Exploration, B.V. and other investors have put in US.5 billion to finance the natural gas project, which has an estimated recoverable reserve of 2.5 to 3.2 trillion cubic feet of gas. Texaco Philippines and the Philippines National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. have also joined thi national flagship project under the Department of Energy.

With its huge natural deposits Palawan’s natural gas is capable of providing 3,000 megawatts of clean energy for the Luzon grid over 20-year period beginning year 2002. The natural gas extracted from the Camago-Malampaya gas field will flow through a 504 kilometer subsea pipeline to an on-shore gas plant in Batangas for final processing and delivery to three power plants. KEPCO-Ilijan Corporation established the 1,200 MW power station in Ilijan while First Gas Holdings Corporation built the 1,000 MW santa Rita power plant and the 500 MW San Lorenzo power plant.

From this magnitude, The Philippines government is expected to reap revenues amounting to at least US. 1 billion, plus an equl sum in foreign exchange savings. It will reduce the country’s dependence on oil importation by 30 percent.

For Palawan, the discovery and commercial operation of the malampaya deep water to gas power project further augments the province’s oil and gas production. The province has reaped more than P115 million as its share from the oil revenues from 1993 to 1998. The funds are used to provide electricity in remote towns, using various technologies. With these electrification projects, the Provincial Government has been able to energize several town and barangays. Some of the mainland towns in the south are now linked to a Palawan grid through Napocor’s backbone transmission line. A similar line will also be installed in the north.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.doe.gov.ph/PECR2005/Petroleum/txt%20country%20profile.htm


DOWNSTREAM FACILITIES


The country has 96 Oil Facilities. Bulk of these are oil depots of the major and new players in the sector (89 in all), four are Import /Export terminals, and three are oil
refineries .


There are 25 oil depots in Luzon, 33 in Visayas, and 31 in Mindanao. Bulk storage facilities for the new players like TOTAL, UNIOIL, and SEAOIL are generally located in
Subic, Olongapo.


The oil import-export terminals are in Luzon (Subic-Olongapo-Clark in Pampanga and Manila) and in the Visayas (Cebu).


The refineries are located in the island of Luzon. The Petron Refinery is in Limay, Bataan (North Luzon) while the Shell Refinery is in Tabangao, Batangas (South Luzon).


Power Plants


The Philippines’ power requirements are being supplied by a network of 79 power plants fueled by a variety of sources -- hydroelectric, diesel, geothermal, coal and
natural gas. Majority of the plants (41) are in Luzon, 21 are in the Visayas, and 17 are located in Mindanao.


Platforms


The existing Platforms in the Philippines are mostly located in Northwest Palawan. These include the:

- Malampaya offshore Production platform which separates water and condensate from the gas;
- Matinloc and Nido platforms which are presently for oil production; and,
- other platforms (Libro, Pandan, Tara, Cadlao) are shut-in indefinitely
Pipelines


There is a 504-kilometer gas pipeline from Malampaya Platform in offshore Northwest Palawan to Batangas and a 10.5-kilometer line from Onshore Gas Plant, Batangas to the Sta. Rita Power Plant, San Lorenzo and to Ilijan Power Plant.

There is an existing pipeline for crude oil that runs from Batangas to Pandacan in Manila.

There is also a proposed natural gas pipeline – Batangas-Manila 1, Batangas-Manila 2 --and Batangas-Cavite including proposed spur lines which will pass through the Economic Zone in Laguna and the distribution pipelines in Metro Manila.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/pipeline.jpg

.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/53909/Russian-ships-in-search-of-oil-reaches-North-Pole


08/02/2007

MOSCOW — An expedition aimed at strengthening Russia's claim to much of oil and gas wealth beneath the Arctic Ocean reached the North Pole on Wednesday, and preparations immediately began for two mini-submarines to drop a capsule containing a Russian flag to the sea floor.

The Rossiya icebreaker had plowed a path to the pole through an unbroken sheet of multiyear ice, clearing the way for the Akademik Fedorov research ship to follow, said Sergei Balyasnikov, a spokesman for the Arctic and Antarctic research institute that prepared the expedition.

"For the first time in history people will go down to the sea bed under the North Pole," Balyasnikov told The Associated Press. "It's like putting flag on the moon."

you may read further on the below web link :

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/53909/Russian-ships-in-search-of-oil-reaches-North-Pole


.

How about exploring oil/gas in Sabah, Philippines? :)

How about exploring oil/gas in Sabah, Philippines? :)

Since the 1970s Sabah was already producing oil from their oilfields, the exploration was done evn before the 1970s. Some of the oilfields were even close to the border like in Darvel Bay / Tawau area.


Since oil is spread in the bottom of the sea, like blood is spread in the human body, it means to say that some oil beneath the sea on the Philippine side of the de facto border were actually being siphoned by the oil wells on the sabah side of the border. That's one reasons Shell and other petroleum companies don't want to drill anymore on the Philippine side since they can siphon it anyhow from the existing oil wells on the sabah side of the border. :lol:

ang mga pinoy laging niluluto sa sariling mantika ....... :)

How about exploring oil/gas in Sabah, Philippines? :)

hahahahahaha....but in the end i guess the people of Sabah made the right choice. If not, the must be joining the abu sayyaf bandwagon in chasing away manila's politician siphoning sabah oil for their own pocket.

hahahahahaha....but in the end i guess the people of Sabah made the right choice. If not, the must be joining the abu sayyaf bandwagon in chasing away manila's politician siphoning sabah oil for their own pocket.

choosing between the devils who siphoned our oil in the Sulu Sea and our Pinoy politican devils. I rather chose the devil we know than the devil we don't know :lol:

we can keep arguing about this...but in the end the reality is we will never get sabah back..

we can keep arguing about this...but in the end the reality is we will never get sabah back..

who knows ? ..... once the Philippine econo,y rise up and the insurgency in the south was solved, and we have charismatic leader with the genius of Rizal, the nationalism of Marcos , etc, the bravery of Bonifacio, Luna, Lapulapu, etc, the next generations of Pinoy will reclaim our lost lands.

Source:Inquirer
Last updated 05:54am (Mla time) 10/20/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Australian firm Otto Energy Ltd. will start next month interpretation of 950 kilometers of 2D seismic data from the offshore Marantao prospect in west Palawan in preparation for a farm-in agreement to be signed in late 2008 or early 2009, its local partner said.

Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., partner of Otto subsidiary NorAsian Energy Ltd. and holder of 15-percent interest in Service Contract 55, said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange that the data gathered in June gave initial indications that the Marantao prospect had “potential for a significant oil and/or gas discovery.”

Otto chief executive Alex Parks earlier said that based on preliminary seismic data Service Contract 55 was estimated to contain 1.8 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 567 million barrels of oil.

If only oil is found in the area, prospective resource estimates are placed at between 320 million and close to 2.7 billion barrels.

If the area contains only gas, the potential yield is estimated at between 721 billion cubic feet (BCF) and 5.6 trillion cubic feet (TCF -- even bigger than the Malampaya gas field’s 3.0 TCF.

And if both oil and gas are found -- similar to that of Malampaya-Camago area -- Otto can expect a yield of between 468 BCF and 3.6 TCF of gas and between 144 million and 1.1 billion barrels of oil. Full article (http://business.inquirer.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=95614)

There's already an oil rig in Tañon Strait (Cebu-Negros).

I hope they find oil there..

Photo below from Sunstar Daily Newspaper
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/11/16/article_236042_11-16-07.jpg




..

I wonder what the global warming advocates will say about this?

There's already an oil rig in Tañon Strait (Cebu-Negros).

I hope they find oil there..

Photo below from Sunstar Daily Newspaper
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/11/16/article_236042_11-16-07.jpg




..

was this shot at sibulan ?

^^

sa Cebu side, looking towards Negros.

Saturday, December 01 2007 @ 02:10 PM UTC (http://news.balita.ph/html/article.php/20071201141050680)

Technology
A Madrid-based biodiesel leader in Europe is planning to invest US$ 200 million in the Philippines to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations to be used as feedstock for biofuel facilities in the country.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap on Saturday said Bionor Transformacion S.A., a well-established global multi-feedstock company, bared its plans to invest in the Philippines' biofuel sector through a memorandum of agreement (MOA) signed recently between AME Bionergy Corp. and the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC).

AME, which was appointed the key integrator for Bionor in the Philippines, is tasked to identify suitable jatropha plantation sites, consolidate lands, organize and train farm labor, use appropriate cultivation and agronomic practices, organize local support to install plantation infrastructure, and study the cost structure for production to determine and recommend to Bionor whether its planned jatropha development project is economically viable and internationally competitive.

PADCC, on the other hand, will assist AME in these aspects and will mobilize the resources of the DA's agencies and bureaus as well as financial institutions to help realize Bionor's plans.

The MOA between AME and PADCC was signed last November 16, by AME President Eugenio Puyat II and PADCC President, Marriz Agbon in the Agribusiness Center of the Department of Agriculture. DA Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat, AME Director Manuel Garcia and Bionor Director Agustin Garcia witnessed the signing.

Yap said Bionor's main thrust is to develop feedstock plantations worldwide using raw materials that do not compete with the food sector and do not lead to deforestation.

"This is why Bionor is tapping jatropha, a non-food crop, to support the requirements of its refineries," he said.

Bionor is currently operating two biodiesel plants in Spain and Italy with a combined output of 125,000 metric tons (MT) and constructing an additional five plants in Spain and Brazil that will add an additional 900,000 MT of capacity in 2008 and in the fist quarter 2009, resulting in a combined capacity in early 2009 of over a million MT of methyl ester.

Last January, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law Republic Act 9367 or the Biofuels Law, which aims to ease the country's dependence on imported, dollar-draining and pollution-generating energy sources by making the blending of ethanol and coco biodiesel in petroleum products mandatory.

RA 9367 also provides a package of incentives for investors in the biofuels sector, including exemptions from the payment of specific and value added taxes; and financing for those engaged in the production, handling, and transport of biofuel and biofuel feedstock.

PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo will seek investments and funding for the Philippines’ alternative-fuel sector during her state visit to Spain, the Agriculture department said.

“We have forwarded to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food several project proposals for consideration and possible funding,” Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said in a statement on Monday. “These include joint partnerships on [fisheries] development, biofuels, development of the bluefin tuna industry and development of biofuels feedstock.”

Besides official aid, Yap said the agriculture department plans to sign an agreement with Bionor Transformacion, a European multi-feedstock biodiesel firm, to promote biofuels investments and identify land for feedstock development in the Philippines.

The Agriculture department has identified more than 725,000 hectares of idle agricultural land that can be planted with crops that could be used as feedstock for biofuels production.

These could be planted with cassava, palm oil, coconut, sugarcane, jatropha and other crops to cash in on the biofuels boom in the global market, the department said in a statement.

Earlier this year, President Arroyo signed the country’s biofuels act, which aims to ease the country’s dependence on imported petroleum products by requiring the mandatory use of biodiesel or ethanol and providing incentives to business groups engaged in biofuel production.
-AFP

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/dec/04/yehey/top_stories/20071204top3.html

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/pipeline.jpg

natawa ako dito :lol: :rofl:

^^ :lol:

Ano naman po ang nakakatawa sa balitang iyan? Hindi naman masamang humingi ng tulong sa ibang bansa para mapondohan ang iba nating proyekto, kagaya na lamang ng biofuel industry na hindi pa ganoon ka-developed dito sa bansa natin.

Dahil agong tuklas pa lang ang biofuels dito sa atin ay mainam na makipagtulungan nga tayo sa bansang kagaya ng Spain.

i agree with you pero hina naman ng sense of humor mo :D tingnan mo ulit :D

^^hindi niya kasi nakita si BATMAN sa kanyang BATCAVE. :lol:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/pipeline.jpg

natawa ako dito :lol: :rofl:

Kulang na lang dito ang Bat-Mobile :lol: :rofl:

50,000 hectares to be planted to cassava

By Amy R. Remo (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=106084)
Inquirer
Last updated 02:12am (Mla time) 12/11/2007


An energy company based in Spain plans to invest as much as $250 million to develop 50,000 hectares of land into cassava plantations whose output will be used as feedstock for biofuel facilities in the Philippines, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said.

Abengoa Bioenergy signed a memorandum of understanding with Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s two-day state visit to Spain last week, Yap said.

Abengoa is the largest ethanol producer in Europe, where it operates several bioethanol facilities. It also has plants in Brazil and the United States, where it ranks fifth in the industry.

The memorandum of understanding, which is valid for a year, was signed by Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat and Abengoa chairman Javier Salgado Leirado last week.

Under its provisions, Abengoa will help the Department of Agriculture identify varieties of cassava for cultivation trials.

Puyat said that Abengoa would provide design engineering and supply the machinery required to develop cassava plantations, as well as study the possibility of setting up bioethanol factories in the Philippines.

Feedstock production from the distillery is projected at 1.0-1.2 million tons to generate about 150 to 200 million liters of bioethanol a year, he said.

Through a Abengoa-PADCC working committee, the PADCC will help Abengoa in conducting capability-enhancement training for farmers, Puyat added.

He said Abengoa would lend its technical expertise in the agricultural production side to develop high yielding varieties and increase feedstock productivity.

Yap said Abengoa and PADCC could enter into partnerships focusing on energy crops development and cost-competitive biomass technology.

Earlier, a Bilbao-based biodiesel leader in Europe -- Bionor Transformacion S.A. -- revealed plans to invest $200 million in the Philippines to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations to be used as feedstock for biofuel plants. With INQUIRER.net

Investments worth over billions of pesos have been lined up for the development of the bio-fuels industry, Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri said over the weekend.

Zubiri, principal author of the Biofuels Law, said Coromoto Comunicacion of Spain was looking at investing some $100 million for a bio-diesel plant in southern Bukidnon.

Zubiri said representatives from Coromoto, a Spanish fund management group, would visit the Philippines next week to study the prospect of using jatropha plant as feedstock for a bio-diesel plant.

“They are a big corporation from Madrid and they are planning to enter into jatropha,” he said.

Zubiri also cited the planned investment of JGC Corp. of Japan for a P2-billion bio-fuel processing plant in San Mariano, Isabela.

JGC is a global engineering construction company headquartered in Yokohama, Japan. The company designs and builds plants and other projects for a wide range of industries, including petroleum refining, gas processing petrochemicals and nuclear energy.

Another Spanish company, Abengoa Bionergy, had expressed interest in investing $175 million in the local bio-fuels industry, Zubiri said. The company, which owns and operates five ethanol facilities throughout the US and Europe, plans to put up a similar plant in Ozamis City.

“They are looking at an area of 48,000 hectares for its planned investment,” he said.

Spanish bio-diesel firm Bionor Transformacion S.A. also wants to invest $200 million to develop at least 100,000 hectares of land into jatropha plantations. The investment includes the construction of a bio-diesel plant.

Green Fuel Inc., another Spanish firm, plans to invest $100 million to $150 million for a biodiesel plant in Davao Oriental. Alena Mae S. Flores (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business5_dec10_2007)

Davao firm converts coco oil to engine oil - report
01/17/2008 | 10:14 AM

A DAVAO City-based company, with the use of Korean micro biotechnology, has converted coconut oil into engine oil whose properties have a wide range of applications to reduce the dependence on fossil based oil.

Rey Mangio, managing director of the Chun Hae Food Processor in Matina Pangi, introduced the S-9 biotech lubricating motor oil for gasoline and diesel engine in Wednesday's edition of the Club 888 press forum at the Marco Polo Davao.

"Since 2005, more than 400 vehicles, both diesel and gasoline fueled, have tested the product at a blended rate of 20 percent of crankcase capacity," Mangio said.

He added that some bus and trucking companies are now in different stages of testing and using the fuel product. However, he failed to identify what are these bus and trucking companies.

"Chemical analyses show that the product reduces fuel consumption up to 45 percent, it also reduces smoke emission up to 95 percent, it has more power and it has cooler engine operating temperatures," Mangio said.

Mangio added that the product's production site is located in Matina Pangi, Davao City and that the company is able to produce 5,000 liters of motor oil in a month.

"Our target for the next five years is to increase our market base, we hope that people will share our vision and will realize the impact of this product to the community," Mangio said.

Mangio shared that appropriate use of coconut engine oil can extend the supply of fossil oil reserves; can reduce the effects of global warming through lower carbon emissions; provide a renewable source of lubricant; and protect the environment because it is readily biodegradable.

Mangio claimed the product has yet to be patented.

"We're still on the process of acquiring a patent for it and if there's someone who will try to copy it, mahihirapan sila because this is in the field of biotechnology and our scientist is based in Korea," he said. - Sun.Star (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/76858/Davao-firm-converts-coco-oil-to-engine-oil---report)

RP food supply in peril (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080115-112396/Solons_urge_review_of_Biofuels_Act)

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:44:00 01/15/2008

MANILA, Philippines -- The author of the Biofuels Act of 2007 in the Senate Monday sought more governmental oversight powers over biofuel development, saying that biofuels could adversely affect the country’s ability to produce its own food.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she fully agreed with the statement of the 1998 Nobel laureate for chemistry, Dr. Hartmut Michel, that biofuel development would be counterproductive because it would produce little energy compared with other renewable energy sources like wind power.

“Biofuel is land-based and will eventually compete with food. Because the Philippines has a small land area, biofuel production will tend to encroach on food production. Corporations are already searching for millions of hectares for jatropha alone. We have to step on the brakes and decelerate,” she said in a statement.

In the House of Representatives, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez is asking the House to open an inquiry into the impact of the biofuel program on food security and global warming.

“There seems to be a mad rush to develop biofuels. A lot of resources are being committed, including millions of hectares of land and billions of pesos, on something that is now being debated,” Golez said in a phone interview.

Some farmers in Mindanao have converted part of their rice land to jatropha farming, lured by the promise of higher incomes from the shrub, known locally as tuba-tuba, that produces oily seeds.

Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) Alternative Fuels Corp. is looking at some 1.2-million hectares as its main hub for jatropha production in Mindanao.

Land Bank of the Philippines has signed an agreement to provide PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp. with P5 billion to finance the jatropha development program.

Local governments, including Negros Occidental and Quezon, have offered large tracts of land for jatropha production, as foreign investors have expressed interest in such ventures.

Biofuels include bioethanol, biodiesel and fuel from biomass. Bioethanol is a light alcohol produced by fermenting starch or sugar from sugarcane, corn, cassava or nipa. Biodiesel is fuel extracted from plant oils like jatropha, palm, soy, rapeseed and coconut.

Over-hyped Biofuels Act

“Some politicians have over-hyped the Biofuels Act to burnish their image, thus misleading the public. The Biofuels Act raises a serious debate on food versus biofuels in a small island country like ours,” Santiago said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law in January last year the Biofuels Act, or Republic Act No. 9367, which mandates the use of biofuels in the country.

The law requires that a minimum of 1-percent biodiesel blend be sold within three months of its effectivity and at least 2 percent within two years.

Land for jatropha

The government is implementing an alternative fuel program to reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil, and provide cheaper, more environment-friendly alternatives to fossil fuels.

To meet the 2-percent blend for biodiesel, some 97,022 hectares planted to jatropha are required in 2009 and 120,808 in 2015, according to PNOC Alternative Fuels Corp.

At the 5-percent blend, the jatropha area is estimated at 242,556 hectares in 2009 and 302,021 ha in 2015. At the 20-percent blend, the area goes up to 970,224 ha in 2009 and 1.208 million ha in 2015.

Carbon dioxide emission

Michel pointed out that producing biofuel would sometimes entail clearing a forest, a process that destroys biodiversity and emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

“When you burn the forest, you produce too much carbon dioxide, which you can’t save in the next several hundred years,” he said at the Nobel Forum on Wednesday at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, where he and three other Nobel awardees were the guests.

He said putting money in biofuel development would be counterproductive.

“When you calculate how much of the sun’s energy is stored in the plants, it’s below one percent,” Michel said.

“When you convert into biofuel, you add fertilizer and then harvest the plants. There’s not real energy gained in biofuel,” he added.

Renewable energy bill

Santiago said the Biofuels Act was only a cushion for the global increase in oil prices. “It is only meant to be a run-up to the Renewable Energy Bill, which I will sponsor in the Senate (plenary) when session opens at the end of the month,” she said.

Although she authored and sponsored the law that requires the use of biofuel blend in diesel and gasoline, Santiago said she preferred that the government and private sector put their resources on harnessing renewable energy from wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass sources.

Santiago said she fully supported Michel’s suggestion for the government to invest in wind energy development rather than in biofuel development.

She recalled that during Ms Arroyo’s state visit to Spain, Spanish businessmen were very much interested in helping develop wind power in the Philippines.

In the meantime, while the renewable energy bill is pending, Santiago said she would ask the Senate and House leadership to provide funds for the newly created congressional biofuels oversight committee to make sure that “food acreage will not be prejudiced by biofuel acreage.”

Santiago, who also chairs the Senate energy committee, said the oversight committee was created to see to it that the law will achieve its aim to reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil, as well as “prevent corporate greed and political opportunism from endangering food security.”

Speculators have begun to call for the conversion of rice farms into plantations for biodiesel sources such as sugarcane, corn, cassava, nipa, jatropha, palm, soy, rapeseed and coconut, according to the senator.

In the House, Golez, the senior deputy minority leader, renewed his proposal to the committees on ecology, energy and agriculture to review the impact of the biofuel program in view of questions on its efficiency.

In particular, its impact on energy and food security, global warming, and carbon emissions should be assessed, he said.

Golez filed a resolution last month seeking such an inquiry.

He said that environmental and food security impact was “potentially enormous” since at least 1 million hectares of land had been allocated for biofuels-related production.

Be more prudent

Because the country has only 30 million hectares of land, it’s expected that biofuel plantations would intrude into forested or planted areas, endangering the environment and biodiversity, according to Golez.

“We’re not saying that we should put a stop to this. We should be more prudent with biofuel production,” he said.

Golez pointed out that months after the Biofuels Law was enacted, scientists had released “critical findings” on biofuel that necessitate an “urgent review” of the biofuel policy whose impact “may be irreversible if not corrected now.”

Chief of among these findings was that biofuels may contribute to the warming of the climate, he said.

The congressman said that a global warming expert, Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen, had noted that the advantages of reduced carbon dioxide emissions were “more than offset” by increased nitrous oxide emissions during biofuel production.

The other finding was that biofuels are not carbon neutral because energy is required to grow crops and process them into fuel, according to Golez.

The lawmaker also said that another major finding was that biofuels may endanger food security.

Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on food, said that while the argument for biofuels in terms of energy efficiency was legitimate, the effects of transforming wheat and maize crops into biofuel were “catastrophic” on the world’s hungry.

Golez noted that a September 2007 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on biofuels concluded that the “rush to energy crops threatens to cause food shortages and damage to biodiversity with limited benefits.” Dona Pazzibugan and TJ Burgonio

By Othel V. Campos (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business1_jan29_2008)

Two Spanish companies are inspecting potential feedstock sites in the Philippines for bio-fuel production with planned combined investments of as much as P9.6 billion.

Officials of Bionor Transformacion and Abengoa Bioenergy are currently in the country scouting for 100,000 and 50,000 hectares of land, respectively, for their bio-fuel projects.

“We’ve been constantly in communication with foreign investors so we would know what their requirements are and what assistance they would need from the Philippine government,” said Marriz Agbon, president of Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. Agbon is the resource person for the bio-fuels feedstock program of the Department of Agriculture.

He said Bionor was looking at consolidated areas in Palawan that included parts of the municipalities of Sagpangan, Cabijaan, Inaguan, Malihud, Bulalacao, Bonobo, Urduia, Dumageña, San Rafael, Sta. Cruz and Aborlan.

Bionor plans to invest P1.2 billion for land and plantation and P1.3 billion for the bio-fuel factory.

Abengoa, meanwhile, has disclosed plans to produce up to 1.2 million tons of bio-fuels feedstock from cassava crop from its proposed distillery and generate around 150 million to 200 million liters of bio-ethanol annually.

The company is inspecting sites in Misamis Occidental. It has committed to invest up to P7.1 billion for feedstock cultivation and bio-ethanol production.

Abengoa Bioenergy operates bio-ethanol facilities in Europe, Brazil and the United States.

Last year, the company signed a one-year memorandum of understanding with the agriculture department to look for prospective plantation areas. The Spanish firm committed to provide assistance to the government in identifying varieties of cassava for cultivation trials.

Abengoa will also provide design engineering and supply the machinery required for the development of cassava plantations and study the possibility of establishing bio-ethanol production plants in the Philippines.

The agriculture department is bullish on promoting the Philippines as an alternative fuels production hub in Asia.

PADCC, meanwhile, was assigned to assist Abengoa in conducting capability enhancement training for farmers, especially in the area of enterprise management, said Agbon.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap earlier said Abengoa and PADCC, along with the DA Biofuel Feedstock Development Program, could enter into partnerships focusing on energy crop development and cost-competitive biomass technology.

SMX Convention Center, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City, February 5

Thank you for your expressions of support.

This is a great day for energy independence as we meet in this summit to enhance policies and programs, attract investments and technology, and launch development projects that will impact favorably on energy in the medium term. In this energy summit we especially want to reach consensus on efforts to moderate energy costs – a top concern of investors and ordinary Filipinos alike.

Even before crude hit $100 a barrel, we instituted a plan for immediate relief, including the rollback in oil tariffs, which recently cut one peso off the diesel price. We have cracked down on "kotong" and "colorum" activities eroding the earnings of franchised buses and jeepneys. Congratulations to Secretary Reyes and his anti-kotong and anti-colorum task force. I have also instructed Secretary Favila to make the Bureau of Consumer Protection petition the Energy Regulatory Commission to grant bigger electricity discounts for low-income consumers.

We are always concerned about prices that consumers and industrial users alike pay. We want our power costs to be about average for the region.

That is why seven years ago, I signed the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act) into law to provide competitive power rates for our electric power consumers. It provides for open access once we privatize 70% of the power generating plants of Napocor (National Power Corporation).

We are eager to move along the privatization of Napocor. Not only will it enable open access, it will also free the government of its subsidy and allow us to use the windfall proceeds to subsidize power costs.

We made important progress last year with the successful sales of four Napocor generating plants worth a total of more than $2 billion. This is in addition to the $3.9 billion bid for the concession contract for Transco (National Transmission Corporation) where the government received much more than we asked for. We are confident we will be able to sustain this momentum.

Yet, seven years after the EPIRA, we continue to experience the high cost of electricity. I have been wondering why power costs in the Luzon Urban Beltway are so high when Luzon is reliant on imported oil for only 1% of its power.

Preliminary information from Napocor indicates that Meralco buys 45% from Napocor, 45% from its Independent Power Plants, and 10% from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market. The average selling price of Napocor to all Luzon electric cooperatives is P4.11 per kilowatt hour if they buy 100% from Napocor. Meralco buys electricity from Napocor and WESM at peak hours, which are more expensive at P6-10 per kilowatt hour. So the general charge of Meralco is much higher because of the blended mix. I instruct Napocor to charge Meralco the same rate it charges Luzon Electric Cooperatives. I instruct the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to petition ERC to enjoin Meralco from buying electricity from WESM at peak hours.

We also learned that the charges of Transco are not equally distributed by Meralco to industrial, commercial and residential users. Since they differentiate anyway, I instruct the DTI to petition ERC to ensure preferential treatment for poor households and power-intensive industries in the distribution of Transco charges by Meralco.

We also learned that Meralco's system loss is charged as a separate item. I instruct the Bureau of Consumer Protection to petition ERC to prohibit this.

We also learned that Meralco's distribution charge is the highest among all 140 distribution utilities and electric cooperatives in the country. Veco, Cebeco and Davao Light have a lower distribution charge. I instruct the DTI's Bureau of Consumer Protection to petition ERC to require Meralco to charge the same as Veco, Cebeco or Davao Light.

Another way we could mitigate the high cost of electricity and give our industrial consumers the power of choice is to accelerate the implementation of open access. With 42% of Napocor generating capacity sold, the consumers still do not have a choice of where they can source the most competitive rates. Therefore we have proposed the amendment of EPIRA to remove the 70% privatization as a requirement for open access.

The private sector has expressed their willingness for an early implementation of open access even without the 70% privatization. I therefore urge industry players, particularly private generation companies and distribution utilities, to cooperate in finding solutions on how to implement open access now.

This way, instead of EPIRA, we can prioritize the Renewable Energy Bill which we have certified as urgent.

Energy security also demands the development of indigenous and renewable sources, including domestic oil and gas, geothermal, solar, wind, wave and biofuels. We have made gains in energy independence, with domestic sources having grown 43% since our administration started in 2001 and now supplying 60% of our needs. The strong peso has helped offset the impact of the rising price of oil. But we must further cut our reliance on foreign oil.

The publicly-listed Chemrez is producing coco-biodiesel in Quezon City while Sember is producing in Lucena City. But both are working at undercapacity levels for lack of coco oil supply. I instruct the Philippine Coconut Authority to help them look for the supply and to plant more coconut trees in Luzon.

We cannot underestimate the contribution of energy to our economy. We are encouraged by major investments in generating facilities.

In 2005 we launched the national ethanol fuel program by breaking ground of the San Carlos Bioenergy plant in Negros Occidental, which will go on stream in December.

For indigenous power sources, the windmills in the north are supplying almost all the energy needs of an entire town in the Ilocos. Vince Perez, who used to be Secretary of Energy but is now back in his private sector role as investment banker, was with me in my last trip to Dubai. He has raised $150 million to invest in renewables like wind power.

The first Philippine-made bioethanol from molasses will be out in March in Ormoc, with investment from Praj Industries – a result of our India State Visit last year.

The Northwind Power Corporation in Luzon will be completed this year, the Sibulan hydro-electric plant in Mindanao to be completed in 2009, the Mindanao Geothermal in 2010, and KEPCO, Nasulo Geothermal and Blobal Business Power Corporation all in the Visayas to be completed in 2010.

Bionor Transformacion of Spain is looking for 100,000 hectares for jatropha nursery in Palawan – a result of our Spain State Visit last year.

Abengoa of Spain is interested in 60,000 hectares for cassava bioethanol nursery. They are looking at Misamis Occidental.

We must also sustain and expand investments in the delivery of non-traditional fuels, like compressed natural gas now available to dozens of provincial buses through mother-daughter CNG stations. We must make CNG available to hundreds, not dozens, of buses by pursuing the large investors from Japan and India who have long expressed interest in building a chain of CNG stations ang natural gas pipeline from Batangas to the various stations in that chain.

Solar power is lighting up rural homes in Mindanao. Aside from the projects in the land reform areas, the private investment in Cagayan de Oro is the largest solar power plant in the developing world.

The geothermal fields in South Luzon, the Bicol region, central Visayas and some Mindanao provinces make us, in the words of Bill Clinton, the world's geothermal leader.

Your knowledge in energy conservation are also all-important in our quest for energy security. Like Australia, we should phase out incandescent lights by 2010.

The unceasing combustion of fossil fuels on a planetary scale is the main culprit of climate change. From rising tides, to changing weather to deforestation and pollution of air, sea and land, the challenges of climate change are great. As a nation made up of over 7,000 islands, rising seas due to global warming takes on a whole new meaning. Florida may lose some coastline, we lose a nation. Our response to this grave challenge may sound humorous, but our intent is deadly serious: we must work together to solve this problem.

Every nation, developed our developing, must assume the mantle of leadership and work to address the challenge of climate change. Each and every person bears some responsibility for what we have done today and throughout history to diminish our global environment. Some nations are more responsible than others; some are more responsible today than yesterday. But all that apportionment of blame does nothing against a rising tide of global warming that will swamp our nation if we do not act with decisiveness and solidarity.

In the case of our country, we have begun the Green Philippines plan, a blueprint for mapping out our environment and economic policies, including energy policy, that will allow for sustainable development that doesn't fall on the backs of the poor or erode our environment. There is a cost to make the Green Philippines come to life, including investments in developing alternative fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency. But the cost is greater without the plan and the investment in our people and our environment.

Compounding the challenges we face on the energy front is the global economic situation. It is clearly an issue for us because the more interconnected we become, the more we need to manage through the ups and downs of other nations' economic bubbles. This is certainly true with any further volatility in the US economy. The good news for the Philippines is that we have matured and diversified our economy so much the last few years that our economic turnaround is permanent and our economy resilient to major economic disruptions.

I have ordered a surge in infrastructure spending as a firewall against US volatility and as springboard for further growth. We are focused like a laser pointed on the infrastructure boom and expansion of public services.

As of last month there are now lights in all but 3% of the country's 42,000 barangays. We will wire up the remaining 1,400 villages before 2010. At the same time, expect to see me groundbreaking projects the whole month of February as we frontload our 2008 budget for the surge.

We thank the DOE and the collaborating agencies and program partners of this summit.

Let us now move in concert, and together, fulfill the opportunities to sustain our development even in this time of volatility. Thank you. (OPS (http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&r=&y=&mo=&fi=p080205.htm&no=68))

Commercial run set for third well in Galoc oil field

The Business World

A THIRD WELL in Galoc oil field will be ready for commercial production in April, operator Galoc Production Co., yesterday said.

The company, in a statement, said the well had been flow tested at a stabilized rate of around 5,200 barrels of oil per day. It said Galoc-3 was now ready to be tied to the field’s floating production unit.

Separately, partner Nido Petroleum Ltd. said the result confirmed the well’s expected maximum flow capacity.

"We are excited to reach this important milestone today ... We eagerly await the results for Galoc-4 next week," Nido managing director Joanne Williams said.

The field operator, Singapore-based Galoc Production, said it would also assess reservoir conditions and potential productivity.

The Galoc field has estimated oil reserves of some 10 million barrels.

Australian junior Otto Energy has an indirect 18.28% interest in the Galoc field via a 31.38% shareholding in Galoc Production, which holds a 58.29% working interest in the field. A subsidiary of Vitol owns the remaining 68.62% of Galoc Production.

Nido Petroleum, Oriental, Philodrill, Forum Energy, Alcorn Gold Resources and Petroenergy Resources own the remaining stake in the field.

Galoc-3 will be connected to the Rubicon Intrepic, a floating production, storage and offloading vessel which will arrive in March. The Energy Searcher, the drilling rig which prepped Galoc-3, will be moved to well number 4 to clean it for production.

Once Galoc-3 and Galoc-4 are in operation, the gross field production rate is expected to be over 15,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Otto, in a separate statement, said its share would be about 3000 bpd. "We hope to get between 7,000 and 8,000 bpd from Galoc-3 and between 7,000 and 10,000 bpd from Galoc-4," Otto Energy Chief Executive Alex Parks said.

The first Galoc well was spudded in April 1981, followed by Galoc-2 two years after. Both wells registered peak rates below par and the project was shelved for more than twenty years.

The Australian consortium took over in 2005 and revived operations, saying as in investor it has confidence in the potential of the Philippine upstream industry. The estimated project cost is $86.4 million, but delays this has inched up by as much as $4 million. — MKCC

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Story Location: http://www.bworld.com.ph/BW022208/content.php?id=003

Nido Petroleum allots $70M for RP program

By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
Friday, February 22 2008 (www.philstar.com)

Australian oil and gas exploration firm Nido Petroleum Ltd. will spend about $70 million for its drilling program in the Philippines this year, a ranking company official said.

Nido chairman David Whitby said the drilling budget this year was way higher than the $4 million budget they have set aside when they started their operations in the Philippines.

He said a portion of the capital expenditure budget will be used for drilling one well at Service Contract 54 near the Malampaya field which covers an area of about 537,616 hectares.

“We’re probably going to spend close to $70 million this year. It is an interesting time for us. We’ve completed our seismic (study) and we have new generation seismic surveys over the entire basin,” Whitby said.

He pointed out that the huge increase in their capital spending is anchored on the company’s confidence in the country’s economy.

“It’s interesting to do business in the Philippines. We are not affected by any political problem that is happening right now. The economic fundamentals of the Philippines is sound and very strong,” he said.

Nido, a company listed at the Australian Stock Exchange, holds a 60 percent stake in SC 54 while Perth-based Yilgarn Gold Ltd. owns the remaining 40 percent interest.

“It is going to be for our soft start. We have one well we are drilling for SC 54, which is our commitment,” Whitby said.

Nido also owns 50 percent of SC 58 and SC 63 with Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) holding the remaining 50 percent stake. All these contracts are located in Northwest Palawan.

For his part, Nido Petroleum president Emmanuel J.V. De Dios said they are committed to continue to build on the initiatives undertaken by the company “which are to focus on the Philippines’ Palawan basin and progress the Galoc oil field development.”

“While we are very excited about Galoc, we are also very keen to pursue our exploration activities in the other areas that we hold in the Philippines . Of course this will not stop us from exploring other opportunities in the region. Asia is still relatively unexplored and given the high oil price environment, we see this as an opportunity to expand, capture and develop an exploration portfolio across the region,” De Dios said.

According to Whitby , the company is looking for strategic partners for its exploration projects to “spread the risk around and get more (exploration) activity.” Whitby said they plan to unload 20 percent of its stake, cutting its exposure to the SCs to between 20 percent to 40 percent each.

Nido also has a 22-30 percent stake in SC 14 of between 22 to 30 percent and SC 6B with eight percent. SC 14 and SC 6B covers an area of over 100,000 hectares, also located in Northwest Palawan.

By Alena Mae S. Flores

THE Philippines is set to become a minor member of the oil-producing club following reports a new well will increase its oil production to 500,000 barrels a month from 17,000 now.

The figures translate into about 16,600 barrels a day from 560.

Galoc Production Co., operator of the Galoc field in offshore Palawan, yesterday announced that the construction of its Galoc 3 well had been completed and oil had flowed to the drill rig.

“Flow from the well was restricted to a stabilized rate of 5,200 barrels per day,” the company said.

“This flow data is fully consistent with anticipated well performance associated with the operator’s mean reserves estimate undertaken, in 2006, of approximately 10 million barrels,” the company said.

It said confirmation of the oil reserves would be the subject of full well tests scheduled for late April, after the estimated release of the first oil.

“The reserves estimate and requirement for additional wells and facility capacity will be reassessed following an analysis of results from both development drilling and initial production performance,” the company said.

The Galoc field is located in service contract SC 14 C (Galoc Sub-block) in 290 meters of water about 65 km northwest of Palawan.

It was discovered in 1981 by Philippine Cities Service and yielded oil during production tests in the late 1980s, but was never commercially developed.

Development of the field involves the construction of two sub-sea completed production wells tied back to a storage facility via a short seabed pipeline and mid-water riser system.

GPC leads the exploration of the Galoc field, holding 58.29 percent of the service contract. Nido has 22.28 percent and Philodrill Corp. 7.02 percent.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said earlier the Galoc field was expected to increase the country’s monthly oil production of about 17,000 barrels to about 500,000 barrels.

“This project also marks several other milestones, being the first oil field development in the country in 15 years after West Linapacan, and the first offshore development in seven years after Malampaya,” he said.

The Malampaya project, operated by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., is now the country’s biggest oil and gas reservoir.

The Philippines’ petroleum reserves totaled 456 million barrels of fuel oil equivalent at the end of 2005, and consisted of 25 million barrels of oil, 2,135 billion cubic feet of gas, and 54 million barrels of condensate.

In 2006, the Philippines produced 24,000 to 25,000 barrels a day of petroleum products but consumed 340,000 barrels a day. It imported the rest to fill the gap.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_feb22_2008

^^^^ So its now more than confirmed that the area sorrounding Palawan, and the Spratlys, is rich in oil. This only means that we have to aggressively assert our claim on those island groups. If push comes to shove and the claimant countries refuses to budge from their stand then here is what we have to do: Delay their claim while building oilfields within our national borders. Lets siphoned off the oil before they could start building their own oilfields. Dito natin ipakita ang pagka-gulang ng pinoy. :lol::lol::lol::lol:

^^ we could drop squatters in the island...

^^ can't be... IMHO maluluho po ang karamihan ng squatters... they wouldn't want to live in a remote island in the S.China Sea... :lol:

Let the money from these oil wells fund the modernization of the military... so we can defend our claim in the near future...

drinking water at spartly's need to be shipped in. practically everything needed to sustain human life needs to shipped in (except for fish :))

^^ can't be... IMHO maluluho po ang karamihan ng squatters... they wouldn't want to live in a remote island in the S.China Sea... :lol:



walang signal dun ang globe at smart. lol

^^ we could drop squatters in the island...

yes for a special mission. To envade the whole spratly islands. :lol: Malamang susuko ang china atiba pang claimants sa mga squatter natin. :lol:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb244/jibrael865/pipeline.jpg

natawa ako dito :lol: :rofl:

:lol:

^^ medyo kulang yata sa creativity ang nagpangalan nyan a.

Baka fan ni Dark Knight... :lol:


Galoc 4 well exceeds expectations in oil flow

By Paul Anthony A. Isla
Reporter

The Business Mirror

AUSTRALIA-based Nido Petroleum Ltd. said Wednesday the Galoc 4 horizontal production has exceeded expectations by successfully flowing oil to surface at a rate of 6,465 barrels of oil per day (bopd) on February 26, 2008.

Nido said Galoc 4 flowed oil to surface unassisted and that the Galoc 3 and 4 have been constrained to less than their maximum potential by the Energy Searcher’s facilities.

Nido said the Galoc 3 and 4 are now ready for production service.

Nido said cleanup and flow test, and preparing well for production for the Galoc 4 are underway, and it is expected to be completed in two days.

Nido earlier said the Galoc 3 horizontal production well recently flowed oil to surface at a maximum rate of 5,397 bopd, a development hailed as a “milestone” leading to production service. The oil flow to the surface—the first time since 1988—happened during a cleanup flow testing on February 20 and 21.

Emmanuel J.V. de Dios, Nido chief executive officer, said this is “a particularly exciting time for Nido, as first oil will deliver the cashflow to fund our forthcoming exploration program.”

“We continue to be bullish as to what the North West Palawan Basin holds for us. We are, of course, also very excited about what Galoc means for the Philippines, given the country’s dependence on imported oil,” said de Dios.

Meanwhile, Nido deputy managing director Joanne Williams said the flow results from Galoc 4 are tremendous.

She added both wells (Galoc 3 and 4) have flowed to surface at commercial rates and are ready to be hooked up to the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO).

Nido said it estimates that the combined productivity of the two wells is at the high end of the expected range, which will be confirmed following an update to the reserves certification which Gaffney, Cline and Associates will perform on Nido’s behalf.

“With the drilling and completions phase concluded, the focus of the project has turned toward the hookup and commissioning of the FPSO and the anticipation of first oil,” said Williams.

Nido said both wells are now shut in pending the installation of the mooring and riser system and hookup to the FPSO “Rubicon Intrepid” over the coming weeks.

The drill ship Energy Searcher will demobilize to Singapore prior to being released from service by the project. The specialist installation vessel Lewak Champion will arrive at the site shortly to start work.

Nido said the Galoc oil flowed to surface unassisted, consistent with expectations, and that its oil samples have been collected for analysis.

“We are excited to reach this important milestone in the Galoc development project today. The Galoc 3 well has flowed as designed, and is now ready for production service,” said Williams.

Nido also commended the Galoc Production Co. (GPC), the oil field operator, for successfully flowing Galoc oil to surface for the first time since 20 years ago.

The Galoc 3 cleanup and oil flow to surface were meant to confirm the integrity of the well and install completion equipment, as well as to ascertain the well’s ability to flow.

Galoc 3 started flowing to surface at 9:30 a.m. Manila time on February 20. Including cleanup, Galoc 3 flowed oil to the drill ship Energy Searcher for a total 14.5 hours and reached a maximum flow rate of 5,397 bopd.

GPC earlier said the Galoc oil field is expected to produce a low of 5 million barrels and a high of 10 million barrels, which can take four years to drill.

Oil samples were also collected and will be sent to a specialist laboratory for assay and pressure, volume and temperature analysis, which will provide confirmation of the initial reservoir conditions; the initial fluid properties; the reservoir-formation properties; and the potential productivity of the well to the (FPSO) vessel.

Nido said its preliminary analysis of the data overnight confirms the expected maximum flow capacity of the well is consistent with its range of predevelopment estimates, which will be confirmed by a full and detailed testing, to be done once the well has been brought into production service through the FPSO.

During normal production operations, according to Nido, production from Galoc 3 to the FPSO will likely be controlled at rates below maximum capacity to manage the reservoir effectively to maximize total recovered oil volumes throughout the life of the field.

Nido added the FPSO processing capacity of the combined flow of both wells is limited to a maximum of 25,000 bopd.

Preparations will now start for the installation of the Galoc 4 subsea tree followed by similar testing of that well.

Nido said the installation of the mooring and riser system and hook-up to the FPSO will follow over the coming weeks.

Source: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/02282008/economy03.html

Alin ba ang tama?


17,500-bpd Galoc oilfield flow moved to April (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20080228-121755/17500-bpd-Galoc-oilfield-flow-moved-to-April)

Reuters
First Posted 15:43:00 02/28/2008


SINGAPORE -- First oil from the 17,500 barrels per day (bpd) Galoc field will start flowing in April, slightly behind plans for a first-quarter commercial production launch, an executive with Nido Petroleum Ltd. said on Thursday.

The new crude will raise the Philippines' domestic crude oil output by some 70 percent.

"Wells are now ready for production services in April 2008," Jon Pattillo, head of exploration for Australia's Nido Petroleum, which holds a 22.279 percent in the development, told an industry conference in Singapore.

The light sweet crude, with a 35 American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity, will be marketed by European trader Vitol, a partner in the field, said a company official last year. (Reporting by Maryelle Demongeot; editing by Ramthan Hussain)

I guess both. The previous article is about flowing the oil to the surface. The latter is about the commercial production.

DOE, PUP sign agreement to
set up natural gas institute

By Paul A. Isla
Reporter

The Business Mirror

TARGETING to institutionalize the local natural-gas industry, the Department of Energy (DOE) has entered into an agreement with the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) for the development of a mechanism for organizing the Philippine Natural Gas Institute.

Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes and PUP president Dr. Dante Guevarra signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that formalized the partnership between the DOE and PUP to engage in activities that will develop the downstream natural-gas industry.

“The partnership will enable PUP to bring into concrete action its role as a major energy stakeholder. Through our cooperation we may be able to attain our goal of establishing the Natural Gas Institute,” said Reyes.

Guevarra said the Philippines has good deposits of natural gas but these have yet to be harnessed.

Guevarra added that the institute will serve to conduct research and policy studies in order to create a policy structure for the proper administration and regulation of the industry.

The MOU signing signaled the opening of the three-day energy fair at the university.

Guevarra further highlighted that the energy fair was the first in the series of activities to be undertaken by PUP in its efforts to help the government in promoting national concern for the country’s gas industry.

The national program for the development of the natural-gas industry is a strategic component of the Philippine Energy Plan of the DOE.

Reyes said it is a “long-term process that requires government agencies, industries and other sectors to build and strengthen competencies and capacities to respond to the technological, structural and industrial challenges in the industry.”

Source: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/0229&012008/economy07.html

Production from Galoc field to raise Philippines crude oil output by 70%

Friday, February 29, 2008

The Manila Bulletin

SINGAPORE, Feb. 28 (Reuters) — First oil from the 17,500 barrels per day (bpd) Galoc field will start flowing in April, slightly behind plans for a first quarter commercial production launch, an executive with Nido Petroleum Ltd. said on Thursday.

The new crude will raise the Philippines’ domestic crude oil output by some 70 percent.

"Wells are now ready for production services in April 2008," Jon Pattillo, head of exploration for Australia’s Nido Petroleum, which holds a 22.279 percent in the development, told an industry conference in Singapore.

The light sweet crude, with a 35 American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity will be marketed by European trader Vitol, a partner in the field, said a company official last year.

The Galoc Production Company (GPC), which is the operator of Service Contract 14C, has announced start of drilling operations at Galoc wells in offshore northwest Palawan.

It was indicated that work on the Galoc 4 well has been finalized with the installation of the subsea tree cap and the testing of the subsea tree systems.

As of February 27, GPC further advised that the drill ship "Energy Searcher" has been pulling anchors in preparation for its 8-day mobilization.

"The rig will be released from service to the project when it arrives and unloads the Galoc equipment and materials in Singapore," a disclosure by Nido Petroleum Ltd. at the Australian Stock Exchange has stated.

Nido Petroleum holds 22.28-percent interest in the Galoc prospect; while GPC holds the project’s operatorship at 58.29-percent stake.

On February 26, the Galoc 4 horizontal production well was successfully cleaned up and flowed to surface.

The well test on Galoc 4, along with the earlier one undertaken on Galoc 3, confirmed that the Galoc production wells will flow "at much greater rates than necessary for a successful development," according to Nido.

The established maximum flow rate at Galoc 3 was placed at 5,397 barrels of oil per day (bopd); while Galoc 4 has a maximum flow of 6,465 bopd. It is apparent though that GPC and Nido Petroleum have differing figures on their forecast recoverable reserves from the Galoc field. GPC is looking at 10 million barrels, while Nido set it at a much higher volume of up to 45 million barrels.

At present, Nido noted that the maximum flowing potential of both wells have been constrained by Energy Searcher’s facilities, but once production commences at the floating production storage and offtake (FPSO) vessel, the flow rates could be higher.

Nido’s preliminary inhouse estimates of well productivity under flow conditions to the FPSO suggest the maximum potential of the two wells exceeding the 25,000 bopd capacity of the FPSO, the Australian firm has noted.

Given the extent of analysis yet to be done to determine the actual production potential of the Galoc wells, Nido disclosed that it commissioned Gaffney Cline and Associates (GCA) to undertake a revision to its Galoc reserves certification based on all the new information obtained during the development drilling and completions program.

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080229118169.html#

Galoc oil reserves higher—Nido Petroleum
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business3_mar3_2008
By Alena Mae S. Flores

Nido Petroleum Ltd. of Australia said the Galoc oil field off northwest Palawan could contain around 23 million barrels, significantly higher than the 10-million-barrel estimate of operator Galoc Production Co.

J.V. Emmanuel de Dios, president of Nido Petroleum, told the Kapihan Forum at the Sulo Hotel in Quezon City Saturday that his company was excited over the scheduled commercial production of Galoc next month, although it was a far cry from the 535 million barrels of oil equivalent found in the Malampaya field.

Nido Petroleum owns a 22.2 percent stake in the Galoc field, which lies on Service Contract 14C off northwest Palawan.

“We estimated that by April, we will start producing oil at an average of 17,500 barrels per day. We are excited because this is the first time since Malampaya started producing in 2001 that we will have oil production again,” De Dios said.

“With Galoc coming in, that would probably double our current oil production,” he said, adding that Galoc production would supply about 10 percent of the country’s annual oil consumption. The Galoc field is located in 290 meters of water.

“Commercial production depends on the price of oil but for us, we’re go at 20 million barrels,” De Dios said.

Nido has commissioned Gaffney, Cline and Associates of Singapore to undertake a revision of the Galoc reserves estimate. GCA will also determine the lifespan of the Galoc oil field.

Once the Galoc field starts oil production, De Dios said Galoc Production (composed of Vitol GPC Investments SA with a 69 percent share and Otto Energy Ltd. with 31 percent of the service contract), will market the crude. The government is entitled to a 60 percent share from the Galoc production once the cost-recovery period is completed.

Oil and gas exploration companies are allowed to recover exploration costs for a number of years.

Nido Petroleum optimistic to undertake
multiwell-exploration drilling program

By Paul Anthony A. Isla
Reporter

CONSIDERING the vast oil and gas reserves in the Palawan basin, Australia-based Nido Petroleum Ltd. said Monday that a multiwell-exploration drilling program will be undertaken in the said basin of the country.

“Looking forward, the future for Nido is bright, and we face it with the aim of taking the execution of Nido’s exploration strategy to come up with a multiwell-exploration drilling program in the Palawan basin funded by the cash flow from the Galoc oil development,” David Whitby, Nido managing director, said in its financial report.

The Nido official said the company will also look to take in a strategic partner who has the commitment to the country, the core competencies and track record to successfully explore in the deep water of this proven hydrocarbon basin.

In such prosperous times, according to Whitby, they will also continue to pursue that next challenge, that next frontier, that next breakthrough change.

Last year, Whitby said, was an outstanding year for Nido as its Philippine strategy entered into the execution phase and it achieved several key milestones, particularly in 100 prospects and leads throughout Nido’s exploration acreage in Service Contract (SC) 54 and SC-58 were revealed in 2007 following the 2006 seismic campaign.

Whitby said 13 of these leads revealed potential of greater than 500 million barrels of oil in place with the help of the company’s large seismic program, as this seismic acquisition was undertaken to mature the exploration portfolio to drillable status in SC54 and SC58 and to include prospects and leads in SC63 in the portfolio.

Whitby said the Galoc oilfield development was well and truly underway, with drilling competed just after year-end and first production expected in April 2008.

Whitby said appraisal activities on Galoc have been very positive in the southern half of the field, where the presence of significant oil and reservoir quality was confirmed, with the pilot hole and both production wells improving on expectations.

Nido raised a total of $32.9 million through the issuance of equity at $0.28 per share to finance ongoing operations.

Whitby said Nido’s current strategy will be realized once the cash flow is confirmed from Galoc in April 2008 and the exploration-drilling activities start.

Nido, on the other hand, reported a loss from continuing operations before income tax and finance costs of the group was $14.8 million last year from a loss of $6.4 million in 2006.

Nido said the total net loss, which stood at $21.4 million from just $7.5 million, was impacted by an increase in finance costs relating to the convertible note of $10.4 million.

Nido’s financial position strengthened last year, with cash reserves increasing to $34.9 million compared with $29.9 million at the end of 2006, owing to $32.9 million raised during the year from the issue of 117,800,000 shares to investors and $4.1 million raised from the exercise of 42,137,500 options.

Source: http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/03112008/economy05.html

Otto Energy sees first oil in Philippines

Reuters
First Posted 20:11:00 03/14/2008

SINGAPORE -- Australia-based Otto Energy Ltd. will see its first oilfield come onstream in April in the Philippines, but it has deferred the start of the Calauit field to end-2009 at the earliest.

First oil from the 17,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Galoc field, which will boost the Philippines' small oil production by around 70 percent, is expected to be on target in the third week of April, Alex Parks, the firm's chief executive, told Reuters in a telephone interview on Friday.

But Otto's Calauit field, initially expected to come onstream in December 2007, will not start production until at least 2009 as the company decided last year it needed further information on the reservoir.

"Production will start late 2009 or early 2010. That's because we are doing it in a different way," Park said, referring to how the field will be developed.

The reservoir of the Calauit field needed further appraisal, Parks said, and the company conducted a 3D seismic survey in mid-2007.

"We needed to understand it better," Parks said.

Data is being interpreted and an appraisal well is to be drilled by the end of this year, depending on rig availability.

Rig shortages have delayed upstream projects all over the world in the past two years as companies scramble to explore to meet growing oil demand.

Otto had initially planned to develop the Calauit field, in which it owns a 70 percent operating interest, as a temporary production facility.

But it is now looking at a longer-term development that could help it recover more of the estimated 40 million barrels of oil in place.

Parks said it still unclear how much crude the company could recover. According to estimates a year ago, the field was expected to flow around a rate of 10,000-15,000 bpd.

Read more (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20080314-124771/Otto-Energy-sees-first-oil-in-Philippines)

Natural gas found in Cagayan (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p080424.htm&no=04&r=&y=&mo=)

Tuguegarao City (24 April) -- Local officials and foreign miners witnessed the ground breaking ceremony of a gas exploration at Barangay Gangawan in Amulung, Cagayan recently.

Cagayan Governor Alvaro Antonio, 3rd District Cong. Manuel Mamba, Amulung Mayor Pacita de Leon and other local and barangay officials expressed their approval for the gas exploration in the area while is being undertaken by the Monte Oro Resources and Energy Corporation.

Operator investor Dr. Walter Brown and Geologist Edward Durkee said that before they have put up their equipment, they already conducted a thorough feasibility study on the area to verify its potential in producing natural gas.

After rigid study, they sought the permission of municipal officials for them to conduct exploration work after they concluded that the area has a possible bank of natural gas.

Their study showed that Cagayan province is a rich source of gas that can be transformed into million barrels of Oil, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and electricity that would benefit not only the constituents of Amulung but also other municipalities and probably even extend all over the country.

Durkee said they have targeted an oil production of about 3 million barrels which when converted into cash could gross on income of as much as 300 to 350 million US dollars.

Mayor de Leon approved the project and considered this as an opportunity to improve her constituents way of living from whatever income that could be generated out of the project.

She also said that the permit granted to the operators clearly state the assurance of security for the people living near the exploration site and the environment.

Meantime, Gov. Antonio and Cong. Mamba also supported the exploration after studying the viability of the project and getting the assurance that it will not cause any damage to the environment and to the people.

The people of Amulung on the other hand also affirmed their consent after a series of discussions on the benefits derived from the exploration and with the assurance that it will not hinder their peaceful way of living and their environment.

Cong. Mamba is optimistic that the project will lead Amulung to its cityhood if the project succeeds. (PIA Cagayan)

Brazil has been successful in implementing their Biofuel program. Therefore, it should work for us Pinoys!

Asean looks at RP as ‘test case’ in implementing biofuels policy
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080504123544.html
By MYRNA M. VELASCO

The entire Asean region is looking at the Philippines as a "test case" in the implementation of biofuels policy.

The country is being placed in that critical transition phase that it cannot afford to fail or backtrack on its biofuels program, so its counterpart neighbor countries would have a reference on how to thrive in pursuing alternative fuels for the transport sector.

At the recently concluded Bioenergy Forum 2008 in Bangkok, Thailand, all eyes have been set on the Philippines on how its introduction of coco methyl ester (CME) as initial blend to diesel and ethanol as blend to gasoline would eventually fare.

The roughly 100 delegates from United Kingdom, Austria, New Zealand, France, United States, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have in fact regarded the Philippines as "brave soul" in embracing the biofuels program.

Much like the pioneering initiative of Brazil on ethanol, the Philippines has grand ambitions of positioning itself as a "model case" in the biofuels program.

"While other Asian countries have been unclear with their policies on how to promote their national biofuels policy, the Philippines has been the model for its decisive mandate on the use of cocobiodiesel and fuel-ethanol, through Republic Act 9367, also known as the Biofuels Act of 2006," Filipino delegates at the conference have sounded off.

But that is not to say that the policy is having smooth-sailing implementation, because as the higher blend of biodiesel and the kick-off of ethanol blend approaches, some lawmakers are already calling for the Biofuels Law’s shelving.

While acknowledging the problems of the program, such as the recurring "food versus fuel" debate, concerned stakeholders are just appealing that the government must keenly review on how to remedy the current dilemmas of the program.

When the law was still being deliberated, the government promised key incentives for investments to flow, but not much has been done so far to ensure the viablitity of capitals that will be poured in.

To ease the growing tension on biofuel feedstocks competing with the food chain, industry players noted that the government must support initiatives to scour for options, such as the development of jatropha as a feedstock for biodiesel or follow the experiment of more advanced countries on cellulosic ethanol.

In the case of CME, biodiesel producers opined that coconut, being its feedstock, should not be thrown into the food crisis debate, because it already been there even before these problems manifested.

"The feedstock was derived without the need to clear new land for the planting of additional trees," CME producers said. (MMV)

Trans-Asia, NorAsia to conduct exploration in the Camotes Sea (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=117485)

A consortium composed of Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. and NorAsian Energy Philippines Inc. has bagged a petroleum exploration contract, covering a 704,000-hectare area in the Camotes Sea, between the islands of Cebu, Leyte and Bohol.

The Department of Energy awarded Wednesday the seven-year contract to the consortium, which is 70-percent owned by NorAsia, and 30-percent by Trans-Asia.

Under the work program, the group will undertake geological and geophysical studies as well as reprocessing of 500 line-kilometer of vintage seismic data at a minimum cost of $200,000 within the first year.

The parties have successive options to conduct seismic surveys and drill up to three wells during the balance of the exploration period.

11.6 billion barrels off the northern coast of Palawan???

This is based just on seismic readings, not drilling. But it still indicates great promise.

--> LINK (http://www.sunherald.com/447/story/545193.html) <--
Posted on Wed, May. 07, 2008
Nido Identifies 11.6 Billion Barrels of Oil-in-Place Potential; Seeks a Strategic Partner
By Nido Petroleum Ltd

PERTH, Australia, May 7 -- Nido Petroleum Ltd ("Nido") is pleased to announce that after completing several large seismic surveys, its deepwater prospects and leads inventory in the NW Palawan basin has oil-in-place potential of 11.6 billion barrels.

Following recent positive responses from major oil companies, Nido is now commencing its formal search for a strategic partner to explore for oil and gas in the Philippines and is inviting industry players to submit Expressions of Interest to participate in a world-class offshore exploration program.

[...]

Nido Petroleum's website:
http://www.nido.com.au/

Here's their press release with more info. Pages 10-12 have some geologic and exploration history info:
PDF News Release (http://www.nido.com.au/files/asxannounce/Strategic%20Partner%20Announcement%20060508.pdf)

11 Billion? :omg::omg::omg: I hope it is true..
Currently, the largest oil field is Ghawar Field which holds 71 billion barrels of oil.

Here's their press release with more info. Pages 10-12 have some geologic and exploration history info:
PDF News Release (http://www.nido.com.au/files/asxannounce/Strategic%20Partner%20Announcement%20060508.pdf)
Check out the bottom of pg. 18-19:
The deeper waters of SC-58 could potentially host several billion barrel accumulations. Interestingly, there are several opportunities to test several targets with a single well-bore, which should increase the possibility of success over the course of a drilling campaign. Given the magnitude of the identified prospects and leads, SC-58 represents a high impact exploration opportunity not just for Nido, but for any oil and gas company in the world.
Also, look at the chart on page 2: It says the "Max case" could be 27.9 billion barrels!!! Even the "Min case" is 3.9 billion barrels, which would still be a halfway decent amount.

This is just the amount of oil in place, on page 7 they say, "Recovery rates are expected to be in the 25-35% range for oil reservoirs." So 11.6 billion barrels would translate to 2.9 - 4 billion barrels of recoverable oil. But that's still a nice amount.

Check out the bottom of pg. 18-19:

Also, look at the chart on page 2: It says the "Max case" could be 27.9 billion barrels!!! Even the "Min case" is 3.9 billion barrels, which would still be a halfway decent amount.

This is just the amount of oil in place, on page 7 they say, "Recovery rates are expected to be in the 25-35% range for oil reservoirs." So 11.6 billion barrels would translate to 2.9 - 4 billion barrels of recoverable oil. But that's still a nice amount.

Even at 3 billion barrels at USD100 per barrel (conservative estimate), the total amount is mind boggling, USD 300B. The PHilippines' external debt is US$54B. :)

I really like Palawan sa totoo lang, malapit sa Spratlys at Borneo kaya may langis. Ang pinagtatakahan ko ngayon lang nila naisip na may langis sa Palawan kahit na may natural gas doon.

Sana nga ma-exploit natin ang langis na iyan WITHOUT HARMING THE ENVIRONMENT. Iniingatan ng mga Palawenos iyan kaya ingatan natin ang mga kukuhain diyan...

Aba! Sana nga ito na ang maging solusyon at mabayaran na natin ang utang ng Pilipinas. Sana yung mahugot nila yung MAX CASE para yumaman na ang Pilipinas... at please lang, kailangang i-export nila ito dahil ang Malampaya walang inie-export.

Ang problema nga lang, kung pababahain natin ng suplay ng langis ang World Market, baka sumadsad ang presyo, isipin ninyo 3 billion barrels? Aba'y sapat na ito upang ibagsak ang presyo ng langis. Kasalanan naman ang mag-hoarding sa totoo lang... pero with right management baka mangyari sa atin yung sa Saudi na kahit sila ang may sala kung bakit nagkaroon ng murang langis e yumaman pa rin sila...

Nido eyes drilling of 1st well under SC 58
http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=124385

Australian firm Nido Petroleum Ltd. will drill its first well under Service Contract 58 in an offshore area northwest of Palawan Island before July 2010, following expected completion of analysis of gathered data.

In its 2007 financial results presentation, the company said the Department of Energy had given it a 12-month extension on sub-phase 2 of its SC 58 work program.

This extension, in effect, pushed back the start of sub-phase 3—which included the drilling of one commitment well—to January 2009.

Sub-phase 3 will run for 18 months.

This means the company “has until January 2009 to fully interpret the large volume of seismic data acquired in 2007 prior to committing to drilling a well in sub-phase 3,” Nido said.

Nido still has one commitment well to drill next year.

The SC 54 commitment well, under the company’s approved work program, should be drilled starting Feb. 4, 2009, marking the end of sub-phase 3 for that contract area.

Nido entered sub-phase 3 for SC 54 in August last year.

Both SC 54 and SC 58 were covered by Nido’s largest seismic acquisition campaign to date, which involved gathering 5,475 kilometers of 2D and 826 square kilometers of 3D seismic data over a 120-day period from September 2007 to January 2008.

The company’s 2007 financial report placed the cost of this seismic campaign at around $12.7 million.

“Nido also completed a preliminary prospect and lead inventory in SC 54 and SC 58, identifying 100 leads across a range of play types in water depths ranging from 100 meters to 1,500 meters. Several of these leads showed potential for oil in place in volume greater than 500 million barrels,” the financial report said.

In an earlier interview, Nido chair David Whitby said the company would come out with its top 20 leads by the middle of this year, paving the way for the formulation of a five-year drilling program for its three contract areas.

Mapa ng Palawan Oil Fields:

http://www.nido.com.au/images/acreage-map.jpg

Website ng Nido Petroleum Ltd.

http://www.nido.com.au/

http://www.bworld.com.ph/BW051608/content.php?id=045

Singapore CNG firm gets nod
BusinessWorld
May 16, 2008

THE ENERGY department has accredited Singapore-based Callandra LCNG Fuels Corp., which plans to put up at least six compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) utilities here.

The company is looking at setting up stations near the Mall of Asia along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, as well as along the North Luzon Expressway, Callandra President and Chief Executive Randall C. Antonio said in a phone interview yesterday.

Mr. Antonio, who is in the US, said they were pooling their resources so they could start deploying the service that targets local bus companies.

He also said they were still negotiating with partners who will develop the lot.

Mr. Antonio said Callandra may put up two stations by 2010 and is looking at a budget of between $77 million and $110 million. Callandra had been in contact with the Energy department for the project since 2005.

There are 22 buses that use compressed natural gas, but there are only two CNG stations in the country — a mother station in Batangas and a refilling station in Laguna. The government is targeting nine CNG stations that will service at least 5,000 CNG buses a day.

Petronas abandons Mindoro oil drilling
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business4_may17_2008

By Alena Mae S. Flores

Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd, the state oil and gas company of Malaysia, withdrew its 80 percent participation from an exploration contract area in offshore Mindoro island.

PNOC Exploration Corp., a unit of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co., confirmed the decision of Petronas.

Petronas decided to transfer its entire interest in service contract 47 to PNOC Exploration.

PNOC Exploration owns 19.4 percent in the contract while PetroEnergy Resources and Basic Energy hold 0.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Petronas pulled out from the exploration after “Kamia well 1 did not result in an oil discovery although some oil shows were encountered,” an official of PNOC Exploration said.

The consortium operating the contract area drilled the Kamia-1 well in September 2007 with minor oil and gas shows but Petronas found the results not encouraging.

PNOC Exploration has sought approval of the Energy Department for a six-month extension of its work commitments in the area.

“Work commitments for the six-month extension include post-well evaluation of Kamia-1 and delineation of areas of refurbishment,” said PNOC Exploration.

PNOC Exploration and Petronas signed an agreement in June 2005 to develop the contract area, which covers 14,667 square kilometers in the offshore area south of Mindoro Island and west of Panay Island.

this will be a good news if kung totoo nga there a posibility na bumaba ang singil sa kuryente at mabawasan sa imported oil abroad yan kc ang main prob natin ehh ung Cartel na yan! mababayaran pa ang external debt ng bansa!

http://businessmirror.com.ph/06112008/headlines03.html

Galoc seen to flow first gush of oil on June 16
By Mia Gonzalez
BusinessMirror
June 11, 2008

WE have a new producing oil field.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said Tuesday at the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting, “We are pleased to announce that the development of Galoc oil field is completed and that the first flow of oil is estimated to be commencing on June 16, 2008. This will be the first time oil-field development in the Philippines since 1992 will occur.”

He said the estimated daily production is in the range of 17,000 to 20,000 barrels of “premium” oil per day—whether he was equating it with Dubai sweet crude, he did not say—but that’s about 4 million barrels up to end of December.

Reyes told Palace reporters after the Cabinet meeting that the Galoc oil field off northwestern Palawan, operated by Galoc Production Co., will generate an estimated $1.4 billion in foreign-exchange savings for the country during its expected two-year life span, or until the last extraction of the reserves, estimated at 10 million to 20 million barrels.

His estimate of foreign-exchange savings was based on the current rate of $135 per barrel.

There may be additional reserves, and Reyes said “additional exploration work will be done” to see if such other nearby reserves exist.

He said the Galoc yield together with oil production in other fields in the country will raise total domestic production to 30,000 barrels per day, or almost 10 percent of local demand.

“The Philippines will earn from the sales of crude oil, which will be benchmarked at international prices, and with domestic refineries being given the first priority. So rather than export, it will be consumed locally,” he said.

Reyes also said executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, will call on President Arroyo on Friday to discuss its interest in oil and gas exploration in the Philippines, which he described as “very, very encouraging” for the sector.

“This is significant because Exxon Mobil...will not go into any area unless the reserves they believe are large amounts of quality oil. To us, this is very significant, because this will signal that the probability of large and quality oil being found in the Philippines is now extremely high,” he said.

Exxon had earlier agreed to lease an offshore block, Service Contract 56, located in the Sulu Sea, which is held by Malaysian exploration company Mitra Energy Ltd.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://businessmirror.com.ph/06112008/headlines02.html

PNOC-EC to extract oil from Camago-Malampaya oil leg
By Paul A. Isla
BusinessMirror
June 11, 2008

STATE-RUN Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is hell-bent on developing the Camago- Malampaya oil leg (CMOL) in a bid to boost efforts to lower oil and power rates.

“We [PNOC-EC board] agreed to help the government to soften the impact of high world oil prices on local petroleum products by moving forward with the development of the CMOL in the next two years,” Jacinto Paras, PNOC-EC chairman, told reporters.

The newly appointed PNOC-EC official bared plans to enter soon into an agreement with contractors to kick off the development of the CMOL, which is estimated to contain around 40 million barrels of oil.

Paras said certain terms will allow PNOC-EC to enter into a joint venture with contractors, but it would have to pass the scrutiny of the Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE’s go-ahead, according to Paras, is needed as there are terms whereby the contractor PNOC-EC taps or partners with will be allowed to start the mobilization. Paras said the PNOC-EC board remains optimistic of extracting oil from the CMOL by 2010. Under the new terms of reference, according to Paras, the DOE makes the final ruling.

The development of the CMOL was stalled after Burgundy Exploration sued to bar PNOC-EC from awarding the CMOL project to Malaysia-based Mitra Energy Ltd., and required it to award the same project to Burgundy—for being, as it claimed, the most qualified Filipino corporation pursuant to the “Filipino first” policy of the Constitution.

Mitra Energy was supposed to be PNOC-EC’s partner in developing the oil rim, but the agreement between them was nullified by the issuance of Executive Order (EO) 556, which amended EO 473, and required that “the exploration, development and production of crude oil from the Camago-Malampaya reservoir . . . be done through bidding.”

For every year of delay in harvesting the oil from the CMOL—a highly technical and sensitive operation that, in the hands of inexperienced groups, could damage the existing lucrative natural-gas area—PNOC estimated a diminution of 7 million to 8 million barrels of oil a year in ultimate recovery.

In a related development, Paras said they decided to suspend any decision on whether or not to extend the tripartite agreement with China and Vietnam under the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking, which is expected to expire at month’s end. “With the controversies that hound it, we decided not to move forward with it. We will just wait for the decision of the DOE and the national government,” he said.

Paras also said PNOC-EC will also push through with its planned secondary offering this year, “once we are certain as to our privatization, probably within the year.” Paras said PNOC-EC tapped Citigroup as its financial advisor for the privatization program. To date, less than 1 percent of the company’s shares are actually listed at the local bourse.

Rafael del Pilar, PNOC-EC president and chief executive, said they will be busy this year after setting aside a capital expenditure of around P2.4 billion for various projects.

“This year, PNOC-EC has allocated P662.7 million to be invested in oil and gas exploration development; P111.28 million for natural gas development; P842.04 million for coal projects; and another P787.33 million is also programmed for the Malampaya gas project,” del Pilar said.

Incorporated in 1976, PNOC-EC’s primary purpose is to explore, exploit and develop oil, gas, and other energy resources. It can also purchase or otherwise acquire, operate and maintain all kinds of plants, warehouses, terminals, docks, piers, wharves and other water works facilities.

http://businessmirror.com.ph/0613&142008/companies04.html

Flying V looks at coco-based ethanol
By Paul Isla
BusinessMiror
June 13, 2008

BIDDING to pioneer in another first for the country’s alternative fuels industry, independent oil player Flying V is currently looking at the viability of developing and producing coconut-based ethanol fuel.

In an interview, Chito Villavicencio, chairman of Flying V, said their biofuels institute is seriously considering the profitability of coconut-based ethanol fuel.

However, Villavicencio said there are some questions on its financial viability as he pointed out that it is still expensive to develop ethanol that will use coconut sap. Otherwise, introducing or developing it at this stage will defeat the purpose of the Biofuels Act of 2006, which was issued to help cushion the impact of high world oil price on local-petroleum products.

He also assured that coconut-based ethanol fuel will not have an impact on coconut production since only the sap will be used.

“We’re in the stage of studying and producing it in our laboratory. After the laboratory stage, we will go to our pilot plant for testing. If found viable, we’re looking at putting up our own refinery,” said Villavicencio, although they have yet to determine how much is needed to bring the development and production of coconut-based ethanol fuel into full-scale operations.

He also admitted that the coconut-based ethanol will be the first of its kind—quickly adding that it can be used and that it’s just the financial viability that has to be addressed.

The Biofuels Act of 2006 mandates a minimum 1-percent blend of biodiesel into all diesel-engine fuels within three months from the effectivity of the Act. President Arroyo signed the Biofuels Act last January 12, 2007 which became effective February 2007.

The Biofuels Act is a landmark legislation that is expected to liberate the country’s transport sector from full dependence on imported fuel following the mandate of certain percentage of locally-sourced biofuel blends in gasoline and diesel sold and distributed in the country.

ExxonMobil may commit $100m to drill Sulu oil wells
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business3_june14_2008
By Roy Pelovello

US GIANT ExxonMobil has committed to invest an initial $100 million for its oil exploration project in Sulu Sea, company and government officials said yesterday.

Stephen Greenlee, vice president of ExxonMobil Co., yesterday called on President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to brief her on firm’s investment plans in the country.

If the data is encouraging, the company would drill exploration wells from mid-2009, Greenlee added.

The Philippines imports practically all of its oil requirements after some modest offshore deposits that were tapped during the 1970s energy crisis were exhausted.

“A drilling program could cost over $100 million for us to explore the potential,” Greenlee said.

“If we’re successful and we find what we hope to find, then the development of the site would [cost] several million dollars,” he added.

Reyes said Greenlee’s party “made a call on the President to give the good news that ExxonMobil is going to explore in the Sulu Sea.”

He said “this is going to be a major milestone in the oil exploration and development efforts in the Philippines.”

“ExxonMobil is the largest explorer and producer of gas in the world, they have the technical competence and financial muscle to undertake major oil exploration and production efforts,” he added.

In January last year, Esso Exploration International Ltd., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., acquired a 50 percent interest in a service contract owned by Mitra Energy Ltd. under a farm-in agreement.

Greenlee told reporters that his company had just acquired seismic data on the exploration area and that it was currently evaluating it.

“With continued encouragement from the seismic data, we need to move forward,” he said.

The executive said development of an oil discovery field could require billions of dollars.

“We’re very happy that we’re working at such a good fiscal and regulatory regime here in the Philippines and that gave us nothing but encouragement,” Greenlee said.

Reyes said the Philippines could get a clearer picture of ExxonMobil’s plans by the middle of next year.

June 16, 2008
Petron gets offer from British firm (http://www.visayandailystar.com/2008/June/16/businessnews3.htm)

MANILA – Britain-based Ashmore Group has tendered for the 60 percent of Philippines refiner Petron Corp. that it does not already own for about $827.23 million, the Filipino firm said yesterday.

Ashmore, which bought out Saudi Aramco's 40 percent stake in Petron last month for $550 million, offered P6.531 per share between June 16 and July 14, Petron said in a disclosure statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission here.

Listed Petron is 40 percent-owned by the Philippine government with 20 percent owned by small investors.

Petron's shares closed 30 centavos higher at P6.20.

Petron, the Philippines ' top oil refiner, has 9.375 billion outstanding shares and a market capitalization of P55.3 billion.

Philippine law requires an entity acquiring at least 30 percent of a listed company to tender for the rest of its equity over 12 months to protect shareholder interests.

Saudi Aramco bought its stake in 1994 for $535 million.*AFP

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnnm/080623/062308_energy_speculation.html?.v=4

House panel told curbing speculation could cut prices
June 23, 5:45 pm ET
By Lara Moscrip, CNNMoney.com contributing writer

Near-record oil prices could quickly fall by half if Congress were to rein in speculators, according to testimony Monday from a hedge fund manager and oil company adviser on Capitol Hill.Michael Masters, of Masters Capital Management, told a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that - with greater regulation - oil prices could drop to $65 or $70 a barrel within about 30 days.

"That's half of where prices are today, and gas prices would reflect that," he said.Roger Diwan, an adviser to oil companies at Washington, D.C.-based PFC Energy, agreed that regulation could lead to a drop in prices. He said it would take no more than 30 days for speculation in the oil market to decrease and gas prices to fall.

With more regulation, "prices will reflect closer the marginal cost of producing oil," Diwan said.

The testimony came as Congress, reflecting some sentiment among the public, blamed Wall Street traders for record oil and gasoline prices.

Regulator: Beware unintended consequences

But the head of the agency that regulates U.S. commodity futures said increasing the amount of money speculators need to put up to buy an oil contract - something the agency can do now in emergencies - could have unintended consequences.

"Changing margin requirements may drive businesses elsewhere to London and over-the-counter markets," said Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Walter Lukken. "I'm not sure it would get [index traders] out of the market," he said.

Lukken warned that raising margins could drive traders elsewhere, with Tokyo or Hong Kong market as beneficiaries.
While Lukken did not say whether or not he believes there is undue speculation in the oil market, he has noted "a lot of growth in swap dealers."

He said the CFTC will report to Congress by Sept. 15 regarding "the scope of commodity index trading in the futures markets and recommendations for improved practices and controls, should they be required."

The chair of the oversight and investigations subpanel hearing, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., had a different take on speculation. "We risk having our economy brought to its knees" by "excessive" speculation in commodity markets, he said.

Leaders from the trucking, airlines and heating industries testified before the panel that speculation in the oil market has harmed their bottom lines.

In Congress, nine bills attempt to limit the role of speculators. Several have bipartisan support, but only one was co-sponsored by a Republican.

Proposed regulation includes requiring foreign exchanges to provide more information about crude oil trades, limiting the number of contracts speculators are allowed to hold, increasing the amount of money speculators need to put up to buy an oil contract, and removing speculators from the market entirely and limiting trade to just producers and consumers.

Energy speculation at issue

The topic of energy speculation is front and center on Capitol Hill this week. A Senate hearing is scheduled for Tuesday and another House panel examination is set for Thursday.

Last Friday, three Democratic House members including Stupak introduced a bill attempting to better regulate the oil markets.

To underline his case, Stupak said speculators now control 71% of oil on the market. That means only 29% control the physical oil being traded, down from 61% eight years ago. He blamed loosely regulated trading markets with numerous loopholes for the ease that traders have to buy and sell crude.

"We can eliminate a major avenue that traders use to avoid oversight," Stupak said Friday. "It's time for Congress to close the Enron loophole and lower our gas and diesel prices by 50%."

Opposition to regulation mounts

Traders have lashed out against some of the lawmakers' proposals, such as banning speculation in some markets, saying that would only result in oil trading shifting to even less-regulated areas.

But some analysts believe that speculation plays a crucial role in the market by adjusting the price of oil according to supply and demand. Some argue that such regulation - no matter how pervasive - will hinder that process and actually result in higher prices.

Though many Democratic and some Republican politicians have furiously blamed speculation for driving up the price of oil, many analysts argue that the market fundamentals of supply and demand are the cause of record prices.

"If it is a bubble, then where is the evidence in the actual physical market?" asked Kevin Norrish, a commodities analyst with Barclays Capital in London. "There is an endless list of reasons why this argument is a very, very poor one - it will only make things worse."

kung pwede lang mainconvert ang hot air into electricity ng mga tongressman at senador ng pinas, hindi na tayo magkakaproblema sa electricity requirements ng pinas.

Monday, June 30, 2008
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/june/30/yehey/business/20080630bus3.html

Spratlys’ oil, gas deal in limbo


WITH a day to go before its expiry, state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) is in a quandary over whether it would push through the next stage of a tripartite deal with China and Vietnam.

The agreement between PNOC through unit PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Petro-Vietnam—also called the Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU)—is set to expire on July 1.

Signed on March 14, 2005, the deal raised a howl last year after certain quarters uncovered that the agreement compromised the Philippines’ territorial claims. The same agreement also encroached on an existing petroleum contract the Philippines awarded to Forum Energy Ltd.

The JMSU is a joint study conducted by the three parties in the regional powder keg called the Spratly’s Islands.

Under the accord, China was assigned to gather the seismic data, Vietnam to process the information and the Philippines to interpret the results.

In December, the parties entered the second phase of the joint study, which aims to assess the petroleum potential of a certain area in the South China Sea.

Eduardo V. Mañalac, former PNOC president, said that once the JMSU has been completed this year the three signatories can entertain talks for possible drilling activities with respect to each country’s laws.

With oil prices soaring to record highs, any petroleum development activity in the Spratlys is expected to renew tensions in the area, which the Philippines China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia are contesting.

But a high-ranking PNOC official said the company’s board, which met recently, has yet to discuss any renewal or extension of the JMSU.

Jacinto Paras, PNOC-EC chairman, earlier said the agreement has been placed in the backburner because of the controversies that hounded it.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo

By Roderick T. dela Cruz

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes yesterday said the evaluation of the oil-bearing section discovered at Yakal 1-well in the northwest Palawan basin is expected to be completed this week.

Reyes said the joint venture partners of Nido Petroleum Philippines Ltd. and Yilgarn Petroleum Philippines Ltd., which discovered oil in the Yakal-1 well covered by Service Contract No. 54 over the weekend, would conduct tests to determine the extent of the oil find below 1,839 meters. Reyes confirmed the discovery. Nido Petroleum is a unit of Australia-based Nido Petroleum.

Nido Petroleum chief executive Jocot de Dios confirmed that drilling at Yakal, undertaken since Sept. 8, resulted in a discovery of oil Saturday night.

“There is no better way to kick off the company’s shallow water strategy than by the discovery of at least a 66 meters of oil column,” De Dios said.

The well is the first to be drilled in almost 10 years in the northwest Palawan Basin, which Nido says is the area in the Philippines where oil is most likely to be found.

Reyes said initial findings by the consortium showed the presence of gas (methane to pentane) and oil in the drill cuttings recovered to the surface when drilling reached the well’s total depth of 1,969.5 meters on Sept. 20.

Geological data gathered from the underlying limestone reservoir also confirmed the presence of an oil column of about 66 meters in the Nido reservoir from depths of 1,733 to 1,839 meters.

Reyes said that after the evaluation is completed this week, Nido and Yilgarn would halt operations in the Yakal-1 well and move the rig to a new drilling site, to be called Tindalo-1, located about five kilometers northeast of Yakal-1.

Nido said earlier this month that it expected the two wells to contain between 2 million and 20 million barrels of oil each.

Nido Petroleum is a part of Galoc Production Co., which expects to start commercial oil production at the Galoc oil field, also in Palawan, this month. Nido said repairs at the Galoc project, which suffered typhoon damage, were expected to be completed in eight days.

Earlier, an independent review team raised by 60 percent the proven reserve levels at the Galoc oil fields about 65 kilometers off Palawan.

Nido said that with the new reserves, it expected to get a return on investment in Galoc faster than first expected.

“Galoc is expected to pay back Nido’s investment in only a few months, and especially in the following 12 to 24 months, the cash flow returns from Galoc will be substantive,” the company said in a statement Monday.

Gaffney Cline and Associates completed its independent review of the Galoc oil field and updated the reserves certification with information from development drilling and well testing.

Source (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business1_sept24_2008)

Govt awards $700M in power, oil exploration contracts (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/122437/Govt-awards-700M-in-power-oil-exploration-contracts#)

AVA KASHIMA K. AUSTRIA, Reporter BusinessWorld

Article posted September 24, 2008 - 03:28 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The government will award today several petroleum service contracts in Palawan to an Australian-British partnership and a geothermal service contract in Kalinga to a local joint venture, with total investments expected to reach more than $700 million.

The government hopes to cut dependence on imported oil through various exploration contracts, including the Galoc oilfield in Palawan pictured above. — Bw File Photo

In a statement, the Energy department said petroleum contracts would be given to Burgundy Global Exploration Corp. (BGEC), Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), Australian-based Blade Petroleum Philippines Ltd. (BPPL) and British firm VenturOil (British Virgin Islands).

Meanwhile, partners Aragorn Power and Energy Corp. (APEC) and Guidance Management Corp. (GMC) will get a geothermal service contract.

The oil projects are a welcome development as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on imported oil, whose prices have skyrocketed this year.

Analyst Astro del Castillo of First Grade Holdings, Inc. said the oil industry is a lucrative opportunity for investors. "Can you imagine, before oil was only around $30 per barrel and now it’s more than $100, so it’s really a good opportunity for local investors and for foreign companies as well," he said in a phone interview.

Listed companies that are into oil exploration also gain value especially if oil reserves are proven to exist, such as in the case of Galoc, he added.

The geothermal service contract, located in Kalinga province, can produce 60 megawatts. APEC and GMC will conduct exploration activities in the 26,250-hectare contract area with a budget of $3.7 million in the first five years.

The Philippines is the second largest producer of geothermal power in the world, next to the United States. Among the country’s indigenous energy resources, it is the largest supplier of electricity with an estimated total untapped potential of about 2,600 megawatts.

The Energy department will also award a participation agreement to BGEC and PNOC-EC to take part in the Camago-Malampaya oil leg project.

The joint-venture partners declined to say how much they are spending on the project, but a source said operational expenses for the first year would cost $150 million, while the capital expenditure could reach $560 million.

The Camago-Malampaya oil leg is a 56-meter thick oil zone that occurs right below the 600-meter thick gas cap being produced since October 2001 as part of the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project.

The oil rim was initially discovered with the drilling of the Malampaya-1 well in 1991, but was considered at the onset as a separate development from the much larger natural gas reserves comprising the bulk of the Malampaya petroleum resources.

The Malampaya oil zone occurs at a vertical depth of 3,332 to 3,388 meters below sea level.

On Nov. 29, 2005, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 473 tasking the Energy department to develop and produce the oil from the Camago-Malampaya reservoir.

This led to the signing of the terms of service between the department and PNOC on March 17, 2006.

The agency, PNOC and Mal-ampaya consortium also signed a deal to allow smooth coordination between the gas and oil projects and ensure the development of the oil rim and unhampered operations of the Malam-paya deepwater gas project.

The government has been eagerly pursuing the development of the Camago-Malampaya oil leg to help reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil and has long been looking for a partner for the project.

Meanwhile, the Energy department will also extend the petroleum service contract of BPPL and VenturOil Philippines in the northwest coast of Palawan island, about 220 kilometers from Batangas. The initial investment will cost $3 million.

VenturOil and its partner, Blade Petroleum Philippines, have obtained the rights to develop the Cadlao oilfield in offshore northwest Palawan from a local consortium, with the first oil expected late next year.

The contract is expiring in February next year. VenturOil has a 20% equity stake in the Cadlao field.

Blade Petroleum Limited is an unlisted Australian oil and gas public company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. To date, there are 33 active petroleum service contracts in the country.

Also on Tuesday, Australian exploration firms Nido Petroleum Limited and partner Kairiki Energy Ltd. through Yilgarn Petroleum Philippines Ltd., said they have found oil in their area in the Northwest Palawan Basin.

Nido and Yilgarn are in the process of completing the drilling activity on the well.

The drilling started on Sept. 8 and after reaching the well’s total depth of 1,969.5 meters on Sept. 20, initial findings showed the presence of methane to pentane gas and oil in the drill cuttings recovered to the surface.

Geological data gathered from the underlying limestone reservoir also confirmed the presence of an oil column of about 66 meters in the Nido Reservoir from depths of 1,733 to 1,839 meters,.

The consortium is still evaluating the oil-bearing section to determine the extent of the oil column below 1,839 meters.

After the evaluation that will be completed this week, Nido and Yilgarn will halt operations in the Yakal-1 well and move the rig to a new drilling site located about five kilometers northeast of the previous well. The joint venture’s drilling is the first probe in the northwestern part of the Palawan basin in almost 10 years.

Nido Chief Executive Officer Jose Victor E. de Dios said the well is the first of many wells they intend to drill in the Palawan Basin.

Nido estimates some 18 million barrels of oil in the area. The government earlier said the oil yield could add to the country’s oil supply and lessen its dependence on imports.

The area, near the Malam-paya gas field, is considered a prime location with a 50% success rate.

Australian driller confirms bigger oil find off Palawan
By Roderick T. dela Cruz

THE new oil discovery in Palawan is bigger than first reported, the Australian exploration company Nido Petroleum said yesterday.

In a statement to the Australian stock exchange, Nido Petroleum said it had raised the size of the oil column—or productive zone—to a range of 78 meters to 93 meters, up from its first estimate of 66 meters.

The Energy Department confirmed that Nido and its joint venture partner Kairiki Energy began drilling at Yakal on Sept. 8, and after reaching a depth of 1,969.5 meters, found signs of gas and oil.

The Yakal-1 well is the first to be drilled in almost 10 years in the northwest Palawan Basin, which Nido describes as the most promising offshore area in the country.

It will be followed by the Tindalo-1 well in the same service contract area.

Nido said earlier this month that each of the wells was targeting a discovery of between two million and 20 million barrels of oil.

“The Yakal-1 discovery is an important first step in realizing the joint venture’s strategy to rapidly commercialize the SC 54 area,’’ said Nido deputy managing director Joanne Williams.

While Nido and its joint venture partner have committed to drilling only two wells, Williams said there were more than 20 additional prospects in the service contract area.

Should more discoveries be made in the region, several of the finds could be combined and operated through a single production system, she said.

Nido chief executive Jocot de Dios said the discovery of oil at Yakal, the first in 14 years, was a milestone for the Philippines and the company.

“While there is still another exploration well to drill in this campaign, the early success supports Nido’s strategic decision to focus its efforts and investments in the northwest Palawan basin, and importantly, to accelerate our shallow water strategy while we mature our deep water exploration portfolio, ” he said.

Energy Undersecretary Ramon Oca said the government would continue to encourage energy exploration and development.

Nido Petroleum is a part of Galoc Production Co., which expects to start commercial oil production at the Galoc oil field, also in Palawan, this month. Nido said repairs at the Galoc project, which suffered typhoon damage, were expected to be completed in eight days.

Nido yesterday reported that a support ship, the CSO Venturer, would arrive at the Galoc field on Friday to re-install undersea equipment that had been damaged by storms.

The company said the CSO Venturer could operate in rough weather, reducing the chances of further delay.

“The remaining activities before first oil [is produced] are expected to take approximately six to eight days, given suitable weather conditions,” said Galoc Production, the venture operator and 58 percent owner.

Philodrill Corp., Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corp., Forum Energy Phils. Corp., Alcorn Gold Resources Corp., and PetroEnergy Resources Corp. also own stakes in the Galoc project.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_sept25_2008

Tuesday, September 30, 2008


Nido, partner move to second oil well


NIDO Petroleum Ltd. and Kairiki Energy Ltd. are set to drill another exploration well in their service contract (SC) in offshore Northwest Palawan Basin after an initial well drilled by the joint venture yielded oil

In its daily drilling bulletin, the Department of Energy said that Nido has wrapped up its drilling activities at the Yakal-1 well and will be moving the latter’s rig to the next drilling location.

The new well to be drilled called the Tindalo-1 well is located approximately 5.5 kilometers to the north east of Yakal-1 at the SC 54 block, which is estimated to hold over 18 million barrels of oil.

The field is operated by Nido, which controls a 60-percent interest, in partnership with Kairiki, through Yilgarn Petroleum Philippines Ltd., which owns the remaining 40-percent stake.

Initial findings from the Yakal-1 well, which was drilled in early September, found the presence of an oil column to a minimum of 78 meters up to a maximum of 93 meters high.

The discovery is the first to be made in the country in the last 14 years, Jocot de Dios, Nido chief executive officer, said.

As in the case of Yakal-1 and Tindalo-1, there are in excess of 20 additional prospects in the SC 54 area covered by 3D seismic data collected by the Nido-led joint venture.

“While each prospect is relatively modest in size, with future drilling success and the application of pragmatic, low cost development methodologies, there is the opportunity to aggregate several discoveries into a single production facility, to optimize value,” Joanne Williams, Nido deputy managing director, said.

Nido said that the SC 54’s work program in the coming months would involve the review of all the data gathered during the drilling program to evaluate the reservoir quality and oil-in-place resource estimates.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/sep/30/yehey/business/20080930bus8.html

First oil from Galoc expected today
THE OPERATORS of the Galoc oil field off Palawan province expect first oil to come out today or tomorrow, an Energy official said yesterday.

The official, who did not wish to be identified, said operational disruptions have been ruled out. "If current activities are completed without any delay, then first oil might be tomorrow or Thursday," the official said. He declined to give further details.

Early this month, bad weather once again affected the operations at the Galoc oilfield, leading the operators to send a new support vessel that is said to be capable of operating in rough seas.

First oil stream from the oilfield had been expected as early as the first quarter.

Australian oil exploration companies Otto Energy holds an 18.3% indirect interest in the Galoc field, while Nido Petroleum Ltd. owns 22.28%. Galoc Production Co. holds a 58.29% interest and is the main operator of the project.

Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corp./Linapacan Oil Gas & Power Corp., Philodrill Corp., Forum Energy Philippines Corp., Alcorn Gold Resources Corp. and Petroenergy Resources Corp. own the remaining stake in the field.

The Galoc reservoir is some 2,200 meters below the sea floor and lies some 60 kilometers off the island of Palawan.

The area is estimated to have reserves of about 23.5 million barrels of oil, which is expected to hike oil supply in the country by 70% to slightly more than 40,000 barrels per day.

Galoc comes as a relief for the Philippines, which is trying to cut its annual import bill of $6 billion and is reeling from soaring fuel and food costs that have pushed inflation to record levels.

Galoc oil is said to be high-quality, light, nonwaxy and has a medium sulphur content. It will become the first major crude oil addition to the Asia-Pacific region. — Ava Kashima K. Austria

Oil reserves have been discovered in Palawan. This is definitely good news. Oil sourced within our own country would do a lot towards decreasing our dependence on oil imports. High quality pa raw ang nahanap na langis.

Good news!


RP draws first oil off Palawan
10/09/2008 | 01:40 PM

MANILA, Philippines - The first extraction of oil off the Galoc oilfields in Palawan signifies the Philippines's first step towards energy self-sufficiency, the Energy Department said on Thursday.

“The first well was opened at 10:45am and oil was onboard at 11:20 am. We embrace this significant development as this will help immensely in our pursuit to be energy self-sufficient," Energy Secretary Angelo T Reyes said.

The Galoc oilfield northwest of Palawan island is expected to yield as much as 20,000 barrels of oil per day, or six percent of the oil requirements of the Philippines.

"In a time of uncertainties in oil prices, this will benefit the country and make us less reliant on imported crude oil and save millions of dollars in importation costs," Reyes said.

Galoc Production Co. spent three years studying and exploring the oilfield before oil was finally extracted.

The Galoc facility is initially using only one oil well, but a second well will also be used eventually. When production is stable, Galoc is expected to yield an average of 17,000 barrels per day for the rest of 2008.

Estimates made in 2006 showed that the Galoc field, which was discovered in 1981, has reserves of approximately 10 million barrels. - GMANews.TV

Good news indeed. :)

:applause: good news.. so true..

That really a good news! Just hoping that Tindalo-1 well also have an oil column just like Yakal-1 (Both within SC-54)...Our country is really blessed...more oil discoveries to come.

^^ As mentioned, it was estimated to hold 10M barrels... at 20K barrels per day max production capacity, I don't think this oil-well will last very long.

^^kung ganun divide mo 20k in 10M-20M reserve. Gosh, 1-3 years lang? Malay mo marami pang oil well jan.

^^Exactly!

Well, I think there are lots more in the Kalayaan Is. area. :)

^^ As mentioned, it was estimated to hold 10M barrels... at 20K barrels per day max production capacity, I don't think this oil-well will last very long.

That's true...
But that is still $800M (@ $80/bbl) that we don't have to spend... That's at a realistic price of $80/bbl... What if the price of oil goes up again?

This is a nice start to build up our oil reserves. It would be nice to discover the mother load of oil reserves but if can discover oil reserves like this then eventually they will add up...

The question is how much is it going to cost to drill, extract and produce the oil?

Oil strike off Palawan: 22,000 barrels a day
By Paolo Romero and Ted Torres
Friday, October 10, 2008
Oil from the Galoc fields off Palawan started flowing yesterday, signaling the first step toward energy self-sufficiency for the Philippines.

Malacañang made the announcement as officials stressed the oil find would be used for domestic consumption to help reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuel.

“The President is pleased to announce, as reported by Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, the extraction of fresh oil from the Galoc oil field in the northwest offshore of Palawan at 10:45 a.m. (yesterday),” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita told a news conference at Malacañang.

“It is a momentous day for us all,” remarked Jeff Davison, chief operating officer of Galoc Production Co. (GPC), the operator of the oil field, located about 60 kilometers west of Culion Island in Palawan.

GPC has started to pump oil that could mean some 20,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD).

“That is equivalent to roughly six percent of the daily oil demand of the country,” Secretary Reyes said.

Reyes reported the first well was opened at 10.45 a.m. and the oil extracted from it was put onboard a ship headed for local refineries before noon.

Officials described the oil extracted as “light medium crude oil” with a potential high yield for gasoline. The Galoc oil will be known as “Palawan Light.”

This will be the first time that an oil field was developed since 1992, officials said. The Philippines imports over 95 percent of its oil needs.

Reyes said reserves estimate in Galoc is approximately 10- to 20-million barrels of oil, based on an assessment made in 2006 for a two-well development.

The oil well, which has a reservoir located 2,200 meters below the sea floor, would produce an initial 17,000 to 20,000 barrels per day in the first 90 days of operation.

This will account for about six percent of the daily local demand of 300,000 barrels, officials said.

The Galoc production, combined with the current oil production in other wells in the country, will be over 30,000 barrel of oil per day, accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s daily oil consumption.

“The President is optimistic that this new development will positively impact on the administration’s efforts to reduce the country’s annual oil importation of $6 billion, and in turn will also contain the increasing cost of food and other commodities,” Ermita said.

He said the oil production from Galoc would also translate to about $1.4 billion in foreign exchange savings for the country, since the oil well’s lifetime estimate runs to about three to five years.

The Galoc Field was discovered in 1981, but the oil field was not developed due to the combination of risks associated with the reservoir and low oil prices.

Since then, advancements in technology have improved the capability of defining the reservoir and resulted in the need for fewer wells to access the reserves than previously necessary.

This has been successfully achieved with the recently drilled horizontal development wells Galoc-3 and Galoc-4.

Presently, production is from the first well, with the second well due to come on-line shortly.

The current development was initiated in mid-2005 when GPC farmed in to the existing Service Contract SC14-C Galoc Sub-Block.

It was originally scheduled for first oil production in April but mechanical problems and bad weather pushed it back by another five months. Delays reportedly resulted in an increase in cost from $86 million to over $120 million.

Benchmarking
Reyes and Davison, in a joint statement, said further development to extend the lifespan of the oil well would be known in the first six months of production.

“We embrace this significant development as this will help immensely in our pursuit to be energy self-sufficient... We are on the right track in utilizing our indigenous sources,” Reyes said.

He said opening up the country for oil exploration “will eventually benefit everyone.”

“In a time of uncertainties in oil prices, this will benefit the country and make us less reliant on imported crude oil and save millions of dollars in importation costs,” he said.

Reyes said there is no definite price on the Galoc oil but pointed out that even at world market rates, pump prices could go down since there would be no more transportation costs, insurance, and handling expenses.

“The reason we benchmark it (Galoc oil price) at international prices is to make an accurate evaluation on our savings,” he said.

Davison, for his part, said, “The GPC team has invested three years of committed and concerted effort to bring the Galoc Field into production.”

Galoc Production is a joint venture owned by a subsidiary of the Vitol Group and Otto Energy Ltd. It formed a consortium composed of Nido Petroleum Pty Ltd., Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp., The Philodrill Corp., Forum Energy Philippines Corp., Alcorn Gold Resources Corp. and PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

GPC, which holds Service Contract 14C, owns 58.29 percent of SC 14, while Australia-based Nido Petroleum Ltd. owns 22.28 percent.

The oil exploration began in the early 1970s when the Philippines sought growth and self-sufficiency in energy production. In 1972, the government sought exploration in the Palawan-Sulu seabed where oil was initially discovered in the Nido oil field in 1976.

The oil extracted from the Nido oil fields, however, was not enough to meet the increasing domestic fuel demands.

The increasing fuel crunch prompted the government to look for other alternative sources of energy.

Reyes said the success in the Galoc oil fields is a first step towards self-sufficiency in energy.

He said the Galoc oil extraction would also trigger a flow of investments in the energy sector.

Davison said the development of any offshore field presents a unique set of challenges. He pointed out it took three years for the Galoc field to start coughing up oil.

Alternative sources
Lawmakers, on the other hand, approved a bill promoting the development and use of renewable energy resources.

Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, chairman of the energy committee at the House of Representatives, said the development of renewable energy resources such as wind, water and biomass would lessen the country’s dependence on imported fuel.

“A lot of investors, local and foreign, are waiting for this proposed Renewable Energy Law,” Arroyo said.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, principal author of a counterpart bill at the Senate, said the government could save up to P5 billion in oil imports while reducing the prices of gasoline.

“It could generate big savings for the country in terms of import cost (of fossil fuels) which we can translate into more projects like additional classrooms and teachers,” he said.

Arroyo, for his part, noted that proponents of alternative energy sources have been pushing for the enactment of a renewable energy law since 20 years ago during the 8th Congress.

He said the Renewable Energy Bill mandates the Department of Energy, the National Power Corp. and other concerned agencies to develop recyclable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower, and biomass, and connect these sources to the national power grid, he said.

The measure will help government achieve its goal to boost the country’s energy self-sufficiency from 56.6 percent to 60 percent by 2010, he said.

He pointed out that estimates made by the Department of Energy showed that if renewable energy sources can contribute 2,500 megawatt of electricity to the national grid in the next 10 years, the country would save about $1.2 billion in fuel importation costs.

While the renewable energy could bring in many benefits, Angara admitted the initial investment on technology for Renewable Energy could be very expensive.

Under the bill, developers of renewable energy resources would enjoy an income tax holiday for the first seven years of their operation. They will also be entitled to duty-free importation of machinery, equipment and materials within 10 years.

After the seven-year exemption from income tax, the developers would pay only a 10-percent tax instead of the usual 35 percent for corporations, provided that they pass on the difference to end-users in terms of lower rates for renewable energy.

The producers’ end product would be exempt from the 12-percent value added tax. They would also enjoy lower transmission charges.

The bill creates a National Renewable Energy Board composed of government and private sector representatives to promote a recyclable energy program.

It also mandates the creation of a renewable electricity market similar to the wholesale electricity spot market where Meralco and other power distributors source their electricity requirements. – With Jess Diaz, Christina Mendez

http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=2008100997

^^ There are other exploration projects on-going in Sulu sea and off Palawan being done by other companies. We will see updates/results in 2 years. Hopefully, the natural gas, oil and other minerals extracted would propel the country to higher level economically.

http://images.inquirer.net/media/networkindex/images/pic-10100857430928.jpg
Galoc starts producing oil


By Abigail L. Ho, TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:29:00 10/10/2008

Close this MANILA, Philippines—After numerous delays, the Galoc oil field off northwest Palawan has finally produced oil, boosting the country’s hope to become 60-percent energy self-sufficient by 2010.

First discovered in 1981 and appraised in 1988, the Galoc field was left undeveloped due to the risks associated with its development and the then low price of oil.

Delays in the delivery of the first oil mean that its operators have missed this year’s oil price rally. Global crude oil prices are now around $89 a barrel, well off highs near $150 a barrel in mid-July.

In a joint statement, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and Jeff Davison, chief operating officer of service contract operator Galoc Production Co. (GPC), said the first well opened at 10:45 a.m., with first oil on board the vessel by 11:20 a.m.

GPC had repeatedly missed its first oil targets this year due mainly to bad weather.

Based on the consortium’s timetable, flow testing would be conducted over the coming weeks to stabilize production. Upon stabilization, production is expected to reach 20,000 barrels a day from the two wells.

6 percent of oil demand
For the remainder of 2008, production should average around 17,000 barrels a day.

“We are expecting to get 20,000 barrels a day in the first 90 days of commercial production. That will provide for 6 percent of the daily oil demand of the country,” Reyes said.

Independent appraiser Gaffney, Cline and Associates had estimated the production rate at the Galoc field to reach 23,000 barrels a day, on average, for the first year of production.

The Galoc field, 65 km northwest of Palawan, holds oil reserves estimated at 10 million barrels.

The new crude will raise the Philippines’ domestic oil output by some 70 percent to 42,500 bpd, a welcome addition to the country, which imports nearly all of its requirements.

But Galoc’s crude, also called Palawan Light, could find it hard attracting customers as it has a higher sulphur content than most Asia-Pacific grades, at 1.64 percent.

It is also coming on stream at a time of weakening oil demand in Asia, even as Vietnam has started selling first cargoes of its new light sweet Song Doc crude.

Reduction in imported oil
In June, Reyes said Galoc’s output would be aimed at local refineries.

Malacañang officials hailed the extraction of oil from the Galoc field saying this would reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil and save the country millions of dollars.

“The President is optimistic that this new development will positively impact on the administration’s efforts to reduce the country’s annual oil importation of $6 billion, and in turn will also contain the increasing cost of food and other commodities,” Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said, reading from a statement.

This, he added, would translate into $1.4 billion foreign exchange savings for the Galoc oil well’s lifetime of three to five years.

The country imported some $8.8 billion worth of oil last year, up from $8 billion the previous year. The total imports reached 120.1 million barrels in 2007.

GPC owns 58.29 percent of the Galoc contract area covered by Service Contract 14C, while Australian firms Nido Petroleum Ltd. and Otto Energy Ltd. hold 22.28 percent and 18.28 percent, respectively.

Other shareholders include local companies The Philodrill Corp. (7.03 percent), Oriental Petroleum and Minerals (4.96 percent), Linapacan Oil, Gas and Power (2.61 percent), Forum Energy (2.27 percent), Alcorn Gold Resources (1.53 percent), and PetroEnergy Resources (1.03 percent).

Vitol and European trader Trafigura will be the two main marketers of Palawan Light.

The Philippines also wants to drill oil from its Malampaya gas field off the Palawan coast and expects to start producing oil from its largest hydrocarbon discovery in less than two years. With a report from Reuters
-----------------------------------------:):banana:

diba sabi nga nila maraming oil reserves sa Palawan at Mindanao...sana makatulong itong mga oil reserves, sa Philippine economy, specially ngayon financial crisis...

^^:banana::banana::banana::banana: Ohhhh ahhhhh... more oils, more DMU trains.... yeahh...!!!! :banana:

^^ This is really good news. :) After all, in the light of what is happening to the world, we need to be independent in terms of energy resources. With the Galoc field and its development, I could only hope for more local sources of oil.

22,000 barrels of oil a day is already a whale of difference than the fact that we will have to import such. Instead of procuring, we are already producing it. Hopefully, we'll have more in the future.

double post

This is really good news. Thank the heavens that the Galoc field produced oil which may mark the start of the Philippines' way to have its own source of oil. What the government has to do now is to develop ways to use the oil find for our domestic needs to begin the way to self-sufficiency in oil.

Aside from reduction in the importation of oil, this will also open new opportunities for laborers to be hired in drilling the oil. No need to go abroad especially to the Middle East. This better get going so that we can reap the benefits as soon as possible.

With this new oil discovery, is it possible that oil in the Philippines could go down to say, P5 per liter?

Or will we still follow global standards in terms of price?


..

^^ I think it's a long way to go since the Galoc output represents 6% of daily demand of Philippines but definitely a good start. If we will become an oil exporting country, oh yes, it is highly possible.

With this new oil discovery, is it possible that oil in the Philippines could go down to say, P5 per liter?

Or will we still follow global standards in terms of price?


..

possible in the near future...since the oil only supply 6% of the contry's total oil consumption, philippines still needs more oil discoveries, and if that will happen probably oil exportation to the countries will follow...

------------------------

hmmm...just wondering how many days or weeks or months or years they spent to start producing oil...or locate an oil reserve...ang hirap din siguro...

Ok, who know the entire Philippines really sits in an oil field. I think it's just a matter of having the money to spend to explore them.

:)

Can't help but feel like the Philippines was destined to be poor.

Notice how all the developed nations in Asia are poor in natural resources?

Maybe it's God's way of making a nation experience being poor to learn to be selfless once it can exploit the benefits of oil. :lol:

Can't help but feel like the Philippines was destined to be poor.

Notice how all the developed nations in Asia are poor in natural resources?

Maybe it's God's way of making a nation experience being poor to learn to be selfless once it can exploit the benefits of oil. :lol:

Your presumption is not totally correct. Middle Eastern countries are part of Asia and they have oil and some are classified as developed countries. Brunei has oil, rich. Malaysia is growing and with rich natural resources. So, this theory is not sufficient to follow your conclusion that ALL developed nations in Asia are poor in natural resources.

Your presumption is not totally correct. Middle Eastern countries are part of Asia and they have oil and some are classified as developed countries. Brunei has oil, rich. Malaysia is growing and with rich natural resources. So, this theory is not sufficient to follow your conclusion that ALL developed nations in Asia are poor in natural resources.

i agree too...having natural resources means philippines is having an edge of becoming a developed country in the future...its just a matter of time...

if only the government will know what their priorities are and that the country is properly managed, for sure philippines will be outstanding...

im still with pres. arroyo in her biggest ambition of making the Philippines as a developed country by 2020..:) just trust her.

now the question is, how long will this last? and how will we profit from it...knowing the system we have (and not the Philippine government, but I also mean to include the vicious international market) the bigger share of the pie might end up in the pockets of a foreign corporation, or a corrupt official...instead of ending up in the hands of the people in the form of developments such as infracstructure, services, and a generally improved standard of living expected in an oil producing country...

although i doubt these oil fields will be enough to make us self-sufficient in terms of energy...part of these oil revenues should go to research for alternative power sources

Your presumption is not totally correct. Middle Eastern countries are part of Asia and they have oil and some are classified as developed countries. Brunei has oil, rich. Malaysia is growing and with rich natural resources. So, this theory is not sufficient to follow your conclusion that ALL developed nations in Asia are poor in natural resources.

Hmm.

The developed countries of Asia are:

South Korea (not official til 2009)
Taiwan
Japan
Singapore

but no... it was not intended to be a theory, it was a can't help but think moment.

^^ I think it's a long way to go since the Galoc output represents 6% of daily demand of Philippines but definitely a good start. If we will become an oil exporting country, oh yes, it is highly possible.

Yeah. Not to mention the existing 25,000-30,000 barrels per day that the country is already producing. Roughly consuming 330,000 barrels per day, we are currently 11-13% self-sufficient plus that 6% then we will be 17% to 19% self-sufficient. Not bad! slowly but surely we will be energy sufficient.

Despite the negative image of Gloria as I don't like how she runs the other side of the government, I am happy with her other commitments such as this.

Hmm.

The developed countries of Asia are:

South Korea (not official til 2009)
Taiwan
Japan
Singapore

but no... it was not intended to be a theory, it was a can't help but think moment.

ah okay....but some countries became rich because of natural resources....look at UAE, GDP is US$40,000 and growing.

Taiwan is rich in natural resources. They have coal, gold, marble, and their fishery industry is also booming with exports to Japan, among others.

Anyway, back to Philippines' oil, gas, discussion.

ah okay....but some countries became rich because of natural resources....look at UAE, GDP is US$40,000 and growing.

Taiwan is rich in natural resources. They have coal, gold, marble, and their fishery industry is also booming with exports to Japan, among others.

Anyway, back to Philippines' oil, gas, discussion.

actually Taiwan unlike philippines lacks many natural resources (making it an excellent market for all types of commodities) however there's small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos. manufacturing and export business is very strong here.

RP independence from foreign oil will reach 58% - Arroyo (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/125758/Tourism-dept-seeks-tax-perks-for-new-resort-projects)

Article posted October 10, 2008 - 05:06 PM
MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday said that oil from Palawan will increase the country's independence from imported oil to 58 percent in 2010.

Mrs Arroyo made the project during the Business Roundtable with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines at the Dusit Thani Manila hotel in Makati City.

In that forum, she said the extraction of oil from the Galoc oil field Thursday has raised the country's current 41 percent independence on imported crude to 58 percent.

"Our new Galoc oil field started pumping oil to what we believe will be double our crude oil production in our country. This is part of what we have done to increase energy independence during our administration from 41 percent to 58 percent, the highest in our history," she said.

Greater use of alternative forms of energy like geothermal, biofuels and renewables, in addition to the oil exploration, have all converged to bring the country closer to it goal of being energy independent.

The Philippines officially started to produce oil Thursday morning after the Galoc Oil extracted their first crude product to be known as "Palawan Light" off the northwest shore of Palawan.

The crude was described as "light medium crude oil, with a potential high yield of light ends, such as gasoline".

The Galoc oil field is expected to draw 17,000 to 20,000 barrels of oil per day in the first 90 days of operation.

This is expected to account for six percent of the country's daily local demand of 300,000 barrels per day.

The field is expected to yield reserves of up to 10 to 20 million barrels in three to five years.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Galoc oil is expected to translate to a foreign exchange savings of $1.4 billion during the three to five years of operations of the project. - GMANews.TV

Ok, who know the entire Philippines really sits in an oil field. I think it's just a matter of having the money to spend to explore them.

:)

in medellin cebu, there are oil deposits on land, which were discovered decades ago. why there's no major production there, i don't know. the oil is "sweet" (i got to smell a sample). even tanon strait. i think it's a matter of technology to efficiently drill this oil, and fewer protests from local folk.

also in medellin, a land owner there some three months back said PNOC has acquired hundreds of hectares of land for a jathropa plantation. there will be also be a buying station in the area. i'm not sure where the "refinery" will be. but i guess the viability of the project depends on production costs against the price of oil abroad. with oil prices down, i wonder how the project is doing.

That's true...
But that is still $800M (@ $80/bbl) that we don't have to spend... That's at a realistic price of $80/bbl... What if the price of oil goes up again?

This is a nice start to build up our oil reserves. It would be nice to discover the mother load of oil reserves but if can discover oil reserves like this then eventually they will add up...

The question is how much is it going to cost to drill, extract and produce the oil?

Well generally, this is actually not a lot, and people should know that this is not long term. I hope those government people will consider the savings and put it into good use.

Reports say that the government will not get anything out of Galoc in the first year, this is to cover the expenses of the consortium (exploration, etc.). So only around c.2010 can we expect the savings. Considering the life of the oil-well to be 3-5 years, therefore the government only has 3-4 years of savings out of Galoc.

Mga ate at kuya, isa pa lang ang Galoc, marami pa ang under exploration at under extraction na mga oil fields dito sa Pilipinas gaya ng SC54 at Nido...

^^Ang alam ko meron din sa Cebu.

sana makapag extract na rin sa ibang potentional oil reserve para maging self sufficient na tayu! ang mahal ng kuryente at ng langis.

siguro marami pang oil deposits dyan sa pinas, lalo na sa may palawan hanggang spratley islands.... kelangan lang talaga madiscover.... yayaman na tayo nyan!

GMA: RP a step closer to realizing
its vision to energy independence
dailymirror.ph

MANILA (PNA) — With oil finally flowing from the Galoc oilfield off northwest Palawan, the Philippines has moved a step closer to realizing its vision of achieving energy independence, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said yesterday.

At the Business Roundtable with the government at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City this morning, the President told around 150 local and foreign business leaders that the Galoc oil field started producing yesterday the first commercially-viable gasoline-crude oil find in the country.

“Yesterday (Thursday Oct. 9) our new Galoc oil field started pumping oil to what we believe will double our crude oil production in our country,” she said.

The production of the Galoc fields is projected to be about 17,000-20,000 barrels of crude oil a day for the first 90 days or until the end of the year and make a big dent on the country’s annual oil import bill of 6 billion dollars.

This production figure will account for about six percent of the country’s total daily demand of 300,000 barrels.

President Arroyo said the fresh oil extraction is a big boost to her adminis-tration’s program to achieve energy independence through the exploration, extraction and use of crude oil, geothermal, biofuels and other forms of renewable energy.

The new oil find, she said, has increased the country’s energy independence from 41 percent in 2001 to 58 percent, the “the highest in our history.”

“And with the Galoc oil field starting its production yesterday, we expect to attain 60 percent energy independence in two years,” the President said.

On Thursday, the Galoc oil field started producing light medium crude oil, with a potential high yield of light ends, such as gasoline.

Initial exploration results show that the Galoc fields have reserves containing at least 10 to 20 million barrels.

This translates to 1.4 billion US dollars in foreign exchange savings for the country for Galoc wells’ entire lifetime which is estimated at three to five years
-----------------------------------------:):):)

The Galoc oil field is a new source of many things for the Philippines. Once oil drilling continues to grow there, employing many workers is necessary and that means giving jobs to Filipinos in our own land. Then there is the opportunity to have a local source of oil to lessen importation of expensive oil from other countries or at the Middle East. That would mean the oil that is produced can be used for domestic consumption. That can be a good start for the energy independence of the Philippines. This is indeed a good start for the Philippines. There can be other discoveries too.

Please note that at the current state, Galoc field is good only for 4-6 years.

I'm not sure if much more exploration are being done, but I hope Linguasan Marsh (Mindanao) and Ragay Gulf (Bicol) would turn-in about 1 Billion barrels of oil! Good enough for the next 30-40 years... :)

Second that, bro.

Please note that at the current state, Galoc field is good only for 4-6 years.

I'm not sure if much more exploration are being done, but I hope Linguasan Marsh (Mindanao) and Ragay Gulf (Bicol) would turn-in about 1 Billion barrels of oil! Good enough for the next 30-40 years... :)

siguro marami pang oil deposits dyan sa pinas, lalo na sa may palawan hanggang spratley islands.... kelangan lang talaga madiscover.... yayaman na tayo nyan!


Binigay na ni PGMA ang Spratlys Island sa Malaysia.

Binigay na ni PGMA ang Spratlys Island sa Malaysia.Candy??? :lol:

Binigay na ni PGMA ang Spratlys Island sa Malaysia.

What the "Hail" does this mean?

Please note that at the current state, Galoc field is good only for 4-6 years.

I'm not sure if much more exploration are being done, but I hope Linguasan Marsh (Mindanao) and Ragay Gulf (Bicol) would turn-in about 1 Billion barrels of oil! Good enough for the next 30-40 years... :)

these places must be explored to achieve the goal... dapat gawin na ang dapat gawin! now na!:D

Galoc oil delivered in November

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=728:galoc-oil-delivered-in-november&catid=23:topnews

After 11 days of production, the exploration company Galoc Production Co. (GPC) reported on Monday to the Philippine Stock Exchange it expects the first cargo of crude from the Galoc Field would be shipped in the first week of November.
It added well test had been done and while the data has yet to be analyzed, GPC said performance is consistent with expectations and steady production of 18,000 to 20,000 barrels a day is anticipated the next few days.
The crude is referred to as Palawan Light owing to its similarity with Arabian light and Umm Shaiff, as GPC noted that Galoc crude has an API of 36.1 with no adverse contaminants. API is the American Petroleum Institute’s inverted scale of the relative density of crude—the higher the index number, the lighter the crude, which also indicates its higher value.
“We embrace this significant development, since this will help immensely in our pursuit to be energy self-sufficient. We are expecting to get 20,000 barrels a day in the first 90 days of commercial production,” said Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes in a statement.
He said the projected output is equivalent to 6 percent of the daily oil demand in the country. “We are on the right track in utilizing our indigenous sources.”
In a time of uncertainty in oil prices, Reyes said Galoc’s first two oil wells will benefit the Philippines by making the country less reliant on imported crude oil and save millions of dollars in import cost.
Jeff Davison, Galoc Production Co. chief operating officer, said the development of any offshore field presents a unique set of challenges—particularly for a small field in a remote location like Galoc.
Davison said his company invested “three years of committed and concerted efforts” to bring the Galoc field into production. “Achievement of this milestone is a credit to the Department of Energy, which has worked relentlessly to promote oil-and-gas activity in the Philippines, our joint-venture partners and our key contractors. It is a momentous day for us all.”
Once production has stabilized, output is expected to reach about 20,000 barrels a day from the two wells with an average of about 17,000 barrels a day over the remainder of 2008.
The reserves estimate in Galoc is approximately 10 million barrels, based on an assessment in 2006 for a two-well development. The ultimate potential of the area with a view to further development will be done in the six months of production.
The Galoc field was discovered in 1981 with further appraisal undertaken in 1988, but was not developed at that time owing to a combination of risks associated with the reservoir and low oil price.
Since then, advancements in technology have both improved the capability of defining the reservoir and reduced the number of wells needed to access the reserves—as successfully achieved with the recently drilled horizontal development wells Galoc-3 and Galoc-4.
GPC is jointly owned by a subsidiary of Vitol Group and Otto Energy Ltd. It is working with joint-venture partners Nido Petroleum Pty Ltd, Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp., The Philodrill Corp., Forum Energy Philippines Corp., Alcorn Gold Resources Corp. and PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

Sorry it doesnt follow that if you are self-sufficient in oil you are rich.

Oil-deficit Rich Countries

Japan
Taiwan
Switzerland
Israel

Oil-rich poor countries

Nigeria
Iran
Indonesia
Iraq


siguro marami pang oil deposits dyan sa pinas, lalo na sa may palawan hanggang spratley islands.... kelangan lang talaga madiscover.... yayaman na tayo nyan!

The cost of oil has fallen by at least .80 cents a barrel.

How come the Big Three Oil Companies in the Philippine haven’t cut the oil prices too!

Petron, Shell, and Chevron should roll back now! MANDARAYA!

SSC Forumers, please push for roll back.

Mga Kababayan huwag Magpadaya Kahit Kanino

^^ lowering the price of any product or commodity is not as easy as you think...

they projected these prices way ahead. once they lower their price now, they would have to refund the excess on all unsold stock of oil on all the gas stations in the country they have supplied to.. these numbers are astronomical..

imagine the big 3 making an inventory of all these unsold stock in real-time, dating it to when it was sold and how much, then providing the necessary refund to the gas station owners accordingly... it is near impossible...

and besides, they are in business.. and what they aim to do is to profit... nothing we can do really.. unless you managed to make each and everyone to suddenly stop using their petrol powered cars..

Go back from the very beginning, when the cost of Oil started to increase, the big three oil companies immediately increased the prices when they were selling the oils in their inventory that they bought on a lower cost. They already made money from the big difference alone aside. They should do the same thing when cost of oil decreased - to cut cost as fast as they had increased it.

Gov’t announces new oil find
THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced fresh positive drilling results from a project near Palawan, a development it described as marking the first oil discovery in that area in nearly 14 years.

Officials of the joint venture holding the service contract — Nido Petroleum Philippines Ltd. and Kairiki Energy Ltd. — said it would step up their exploration program to allow for the utilization of all the available oil.

A two-well drilling program has led to discoveries at both, the Yakal-1 and Tindalo-1.

Nido chief executive officer Jose Victor E. de Dios said the firm had delineated additional Nido Formation targets located in close proximity to both wells which could be explored with future programs.

He also stressed that Nido Petroleum would optimize its shallow water strategy drilling to exploit the full potential of Service Contract 54.

The firm estimates that the area contains some 18 million barrels of oil.

"We are very pleased and excited to see Nido’s drilling activity in SC54 and hear about the success of the Yakal-1 and now the Tindalo-1 well," Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes said.

"Our silence in the oil exploration business has been too long. The latest discovery in Tindalo-1, making it the second one for SC54 in two months, speaks of the attractiveness of the basin and highlights the need for activity to continue in the country," he added.

The service contract area is considered to be in a prime location, being near the Malampaya oil and gas field, with a 50% success rate.

Mr. Reyes said the oil discoveries would attract more investors and could enhance the country’s energy security.

"We have reached a milestone of 57.2% energy independence. But oil still accounted for 31.8% of the country’s energy mix in 2007," he said. — Ava Kashima K. Austria

http://www.bworldonline.com/BW102408/content.php?id=003

^^ Takaw pansin sa akin kahapon(24Oct2008 Friday) ang banner headline ng dyaryong Business World. "A bad day for the market" , saka ko nakita itong ...

Gov’t announces new oil find

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday announced fresh positive drilling results from a project near Palawan, a development it described as marking the first oil discovery in that area in nearly 14 years.

Officials of the joint venture holding the service contract — Nido Petroleum Philippines Ltd. and Kairiki Energy Ltd. — said it would step up their exploration program to allow for the utilization of all the available oil.

A two-well drilling program has led to discoveries at both, the Yakal-1 and Tindalo-1.

Nido chief executive officer Jose Victor E. de Dios said the firm had delineated additional Nido Formation targets located in close proximity to both wells which could be explored with future programs.

He also stressed that Nido Petroleum would optimize its shallow water strategy drilling to exploit the full potential of Service Contract 54.

The firm estimates that the area contains some 18 million barrels of oil.


...and there's the other one blue card vs green card from sarkozy

^^

Not to mention that it is just a preview for the BusinessWorld's Codex Subscription. :lol:

Export natin yung langis... may plano po ba sila?

^^ Ieexport natin ang ating oil kapag nadetermine na natin na self-sufficient na tayo at kung may excess pa, e pwedeng ibenta sa international market. Saka pa lang tayo yayaman.

Petron buys first oil output from Galoc
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
October 31, 2008 FRIDAY

Giant oil refiner Petron Corp. said yesterday it has purchased the first oil output from the Galoc field in Northwest Palawan.

Petron chairman Nicasio Alcantara said this represents another milestone for the oil company.

Alcantara said Petron has entered into an agreement with Galoc Production Co. (GPC) to buy the first cargo of crude oil produced from the Galoc field.

The cargo shipment of 300,000 barrels of Palawan light crude oil is expected to arrive at Petron’s Bataan refinery on Nov. 7.

“We are pleased to be the first oil company to buy and process Palawan light crude oil, which comes from the latest production well in the country. The success of Galoc signals a new era of exploration in the Philippines and is a positive step towards energy self-sufficiency,” Alcantara said.

Meanwhile, GPC said the sale of the first oil cargo to Petron is benchmarked on international prices.

GPC said cargo loading is expected to take approximately 36 hours after which it will be delivered to Petron’s refinery in Limay, Bataan.

There has now been over 20 days of production from the Galoc field during which time the average production rate has been 15,000 barrels per day, including approximately one week of commissioning and production testing.

The drilling vessel FPSO Rubicon Intrepid has been performing well with minimal downtime, GPC said, adding that the next cargo is expected by late November.

Petron is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines with a 180,000-barrel per day oil refinery. The company supplies nearly 40 percent of the country’s total fuel requirements.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the Galoc oil field is expected to produce an average of 17,000 barrels to 20,000 barrels of crude oil daily, equivalent to about six percent of the country’s 300,000-barrel daily requirement.

The oil field is also expected to save the country millions of dollars in import costs.

Initial exploration results show the Galoc field has reserves containing 10 to 20 million barrels, subject to further studies and exploration that can possibly result in additional yields.



From www.philstar.com

^^:rock::rock::rock:

Wow, ang aga naman ng Petron bumili ng oil from the Galoc oil field. It's good news because a giant oil company already took interest in the oil find. It is another start for the step by step way of the Philippines towards energy independence.

There may be other oil fields in other areas of the country that are waiting to be explored. We still have a long way to go for energy independence but at least there is light and hope for that goal.

but guys, do you have any info how big the capacity of oil the philippines has? ask ko lang kasi kung relatively smaller to indonesia or malaysia, i doubt na kaya nating makisabayan sa production ng oil still what is important is that we can support our own country with at least a portion of the whole

^^ there's no exact science yet that can tell how much capacity an oil field has...but as previously said, Galoc oil field can reach up to 18k barrel of crude oil a day.

^^ lol oh yeah. sorry my bad. nawiwindang lang ako sa numbers kaya mali mali natatanong ko. so it's only measured in barrels :) thanks

but how much thailand produces and malaysia and indonesia?

^^ Yan ang itanong natin sa mga forumers nila.

Siguro naman e kaya na nating supplayan nang 3-5 years na gamit lang ang ating crude oil para bawas gastos!

Oil found in two wells
Australian company Nido Petroleum Ltd. and partner Kariki Energy Ltd. have completed shallow-water drilling in Service Contract 54 off the northwest area of Palawan Island, southwest of Manila, with two wells showing good potential for oil production.

In a disclosure to the Australian Stock Exchange, Nido deputy managing director Joanne Williams said a 200-meter gross oil column was confirmed from the Yakal-1 and Tindalo-1 wells.

“We are very pleased with the results from the Yakal and Tindalo wells,” Williams said. “Two discoveries from two exploration wells, both with significant oil columns and safely drilled within five percent of both budget and schedule, are hard to beat.”

“I am eager now to complete the work to determine the range of recoverable volumes possible for both fields with all the information gained from the drilling,” she added. “Extended well test planning is also well underway for both wells, which hopefully, will confirm well productivity analogous to the nearby Nido A and Nido B fields and provide some early revenue from Yakal and Tindalo.”

The disclosure statement said the results from the two discoveries were being compiled, interpreted and assessed.

Nido, as operator, is also doing a fully integrated subsurface work program “to evaluate the potential productivity and recoverable oil volumes from these fields,” it added.

The company said work on the extended well test planning was ongoing, with results likely to be delivered by 2010.

“The well test will likely use the same facility for both wells and will be designed to capture and sell any oil produced,” it said.

Last May, Nido raised $41.25 million through a share placement to fund its expanded drilling program in the area covered by SC 54.

Nido chief executive JV Emmanuel de Dios earlier said the share placement, jointly arranged by CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets and Merrill Lynch, involved the issuance of 82.5 million shares at 50 US cents a share. With editing by INQUIRER.net

That shows na mayaman ang pinas pagdating sa natural resources. Sigurado, marami pa tayong Oil fields sa Philippine Sea sa East.

Aba okay ito ha, may two potential oil wells pa palang na-discover. Sana lang yung recoverable oil products mula sa wells na iyan ay maging source ng fair revenue para sa Philippine government. Siyempre yung investors na tutulong sa pagdrill may porsyento pero dapat mayroon ding kitain ang pamahalaan natin.

Dapat maituloy ng susunod na administrasyon ang pagpapalago ng mga na-discover na oil wells sa bansa. Siguro naman yung makukuhang langis ay magagamit din for domestic consumption. Iyon dapat ang first priority para maging daan ito sa energy independence ng Pilipinas.

As what I mentioned earlier malaki ang oil deposit ng pinas. Dyan lang sa mindanoa meron dyan na malaking oil field.

Kaso lang ang problema ang ting gobyerno.

Sana maing seios na ang gobyerno para ma tap na rin ng pinas yung tinatagong yaman nya. Kinakatakot ko lang baka mauwi naman kagaya ng gold. Na mapunta lang sa bulsa or collector ng gobyerno.

^^ Hindi yun eh.. May mga not in their minds na mga tao tulad ng mga NPA, ABUSAYYAF tska MILF na puwedeng sumira ng mga oil fields and mangolekta ng kikil.

I am still awaiting PNOC information on tests conducted in the Ragay Gulf... RP waters are deep, making it a bit expensive to test and eventually extract oil. I dont know if they are conducting further land-based tests.

Bump
Any Updates po tungkol sa Galoc Oil Field and other Oil Discoveries?

I just read news yesterday that the next production of galoc will be sold to japan and south korea? why is not use it localy?

http://www.aseanaffairs.com/philippine_galoc_oil_unfit_for_local_use

October 12, 2008

Philippine Galoc oil unfit for local use
Even before the first flow of oil from the Galoc field, project operator Galoc Production Company (GPC) already set on record that the crude to be extracted will not be fit for domestic use, reported a local daily.

The Manila Bulletin quoted GPC country manager Kay Palma as telling reporters that "the oil recovered from the Galoc field will not be used for domestic supply as the country lacks the facility to refine its type of crude."

The paper noted that such pronouncement would ‘dash all hopes that the Galoc find will shore up the country’s energy independence’ or that it will displace about 6.0-percent of the country’s current oil imports.

Like the previous crude production from the Malampaya field, it was known that the problem with the Galoc find would be the oil’s high mercury content which is best suited for processing in bigger refineries in South Korea and Singapore, so the toxicity problem could be well-managed.

http://wvgazette.com/News/200812160723

December 17, 2008

Energy secretary nominee sees coal as 'nightmare'
Chu worries carbon capture won't work

President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. energy secretary isn't sold on the idea that technology to capture greenhouse emissions and pump them underground will save the coal industry. By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer


CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. energy secretary isn't sold on the idea that technology to capture greenhouse emissions and pump them underground will save the coal industry. Watch Chu's speech, the coal section is 28 minutes in. Click here.

Carbon capture and storage research is still in its early stages, said Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist announced by Obama this week as his nominee to run the U.S. Department of Energy. Real-world projects to pump millions of tons of carbon dioxide might also be rejected unless scientists show it can be done safely, Chu said during an April speech.

"Coal is my worst nightmare," said Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Stanford University professor.

Chu noted that coal is the current "default option" for meeting growing energy needs in the United States, China and India. But coal is also firing continued increases in worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, even at a time when scientists say the need to dramatically reduce those emissions is critical.

"We have lots of fossil fuel," Chu said during a talk outlining his views on energy policy. "That's really both good and bad news. We won't run out of energy, but there's enough carbon in the ground to really cook us."

Chu said existing pilot projects involving a few million tons of carbon dioxide sequestration are far too small to tell if the process would work on the scale needed.

"It's sort of a research and development issue," he said. "I think we have to do this if we're going to go forward with coal, but it's not a guarantee that we have a solution with coal."

Late last week, when word began leaking that Chu was a likely Obama Cabinet choice, his comments about coal began circulating on the Internet, primarily after they were posted on a Wall Street Journal blog.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said he had not seen Chu's remarks, but that they gave him cause for concern.

"What I'm concerned about is how many coal mines has he been to, and what is his thought about the coal mines and their families who rely on this industry?" Raney said. "That may be his personal opinion, but that's got to be sobered up a bit."

Other coal boosters were familiar with Chu's comments, but also insisted they were less concerned.

"Any remarks Dr. Chu has made over the years, whether positive or negative about coal must be viewed against specific public policy objectives laid out by President-elect Obama," said Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association.

Raulston noted that Obama has emphasized "energy independence" and supports "the next generation of clean coal technology to capture and store emissions of carbon from coal-based generation."

She pointed to a presentation Chu gave to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in October 2007 in which he said, "Technologies for capturing and sequestering carbon from fossil fuels can play a central role in the cost-effective management of global carbon dioxide emissions."

Environmental groups and other advocates of swift and serious action to deal with the climate change crisis said Chu's comments on coal reflect a clear understanding of the scientific basis for concern and a practical view of the challenges for reducing the energy industry's greenhouse impacts.

"He isn't fooled by clean-coal claptrap," wrote Joseph Romm, an energy expert who edits the blog Climate Progress.

During the campaign, Obama pledged to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050. In the near term, his campaign plan called for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

United Mine Workers officials and some within the coal industry aren't as concerned about the 2050 target. But the near-term reductions scare coal industry backers. They say cutting back to 1990 emissions by 2020 doesn't provide adequate time to work out the long list of hurdles to implementing carbon capture and sequestration technology on coal-fired power plants.

Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have also proposed to invest $150 million over 10 years on a variety of energy programs - everything from plug-in hybrid vehicles to biofuels and "low-emissions coal plants."

They also said they would instruct the DOE to start a new public-private partnership to build five commercial-scale coal-fired plants that capture carbon dioxide emissions and pump them underground. But it remains unclear exactly how much government money Obama and Biden would chip in for those plants, or how much of the $150 billion "clean energy" program would go toward coal.

Chu said carbon dioxide controls on power plants could increase electricity bills by about 25 percent. But he said the higher costs are not the biggest challenge.

Carbon dioxide that is pumped underground could form a big bubble that finds its way out, or could turn acidic and create cracks in geologic formations that prompt leakage, Chu said. These potential problems, he said, are likely to bring lawsuits from residents where such projects are proposed.
"Why would there be a legal challenge?" Chu said. "Because there would be people saying I don't want this done in my back yard because if the carbon dioxide ever does bubble to the surface, it could actually kill people."

He also said that fly-ash emissions from coal-fired power plants amount to 100times more radiation than is released by nuclear power plants.

"If you're concerned about radiation, coal might be worse than a nuclear reactor," Chu said. "It's worse in every other respect."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com

or 304-348-1702.

http://wvgazette.com/News/200812160723

December 17, 2008

Energy secretary nominee sees coal as 'nightmare'
Chu worries carbon capture won't work

President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. energy secretary isn't sold on the idea that technology to capture greenhouse emissions and pump them underground will save the coal industry. By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer


CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- President-elect Barack Obama's pick for U.S. energy secretary isn't sold on the idea that technology to capture greenhouse emissions and pump them underground will save the coal industry. Watch Chu's speech, the coal section is 28 minutes in. Click here.

Carbon capture and storage research is still in its early stages, said Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist announced by Obama this week as his nominee to run the U.S. Department of Energy. Real-world projects to pump millions of tons of carbon dioxide might also be rejected unless scientists show it can be done safely, Chu said during an April speech.

"Coal is my worst nightmare," said Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Stanford University professor.

Chu noted that coal is the current "default option" for meeting growing energy needs in the United States, China and India. But coal is also firing continued increases in worldwide carbon dioxide emissions, even at a time when scientists say the need to dramatically reduce those emissions is critical.

"We have lots of fossil fuel," Chu said during a talk outlining his views on energy policy. "That's really both good and bad news. We won't run out of energy, but there's enough carbon in the ground to really cook us."

Chu said existing pilot projects involving a few million tons of carbon dioxide sequestration are far too small to tell if the process would work on the scale needed.

"It's sort of a research and development issue," he said. "I think we have to do this if we're going to go forward with coal, but it's not a guarantee that we have a solution with coal."

Late last week, when word began leaking that Chu was a likely Obama Cabinet choice, his comments about coal began circulating on the Internet, primarily after they were posted on a Wall Street Journal blog.

Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, said he had not seen Chu's remarks, but that they gave him cause for concern.

"What I'm concerned about is how many coal mines has he been to, and what is his thought about the coal mines and their families who rely on this industry?" Raney said. "That may be his personal opinion, but that's got to be sobered up a bit."

Other coal boosters were familiar with Chu's comments, but also insisted they were less concerned.

"Any remarks Dr. Chu has made over the years, whether positive or negative about coal must be viewed against specific public policy objectives laid out by President-elect Obama," said Carol Raulston, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association.

Raulston noted that Obama has emphasized "energy independence" and supports "the next generation of clean coal technology to capture and store emissions of carbon from coal-based generation."

She pointed to a presentation Chu gave to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in October 2007 in which he said, "Technologies for capturing and sequestering carbon from fossil fuels can play a central role in the cost-effective management of global carbon dioxide emissions."

Environmental groups and other advocates of swift and serious action to deal with the climate change crisis said Chu's comments on coal reflect a clear understanding of the scientific basis for concern and a practical view of the challenges for reducing the energy industry's greenhouse impacts.

"He isn't fooled by clean-coal claptrap," wrote Joseph Romm, an energy expert who edits the blog Climate Progress.

During the campaign, Obama pledged to reduce U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by at least 80 percent by 2050. In the near term, his campaign plan called for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

United Mine Workers officials and some within the coal industry aren't as concerned about the 2050 target. But the near-term reductions scare coal industry backers. They say cutting back to 1990 emissions by 2020 doesn't provide adequate time to work out the long list of hurdles to implementing carbon capture and sequestration technology on coal-fired power plants.

Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden have also proposed to invest $150 million over 10 years on a variety of energy programs - everything from plug-in hybrid vehicles to biofuels and "low-emissions coal plants."

They also said they would instruct the DOE to start a new public-private partnership to build five commercial-scale coal-fired plants that capture carbon dioxide emissions and pump them underground. But it remains unclear exactly how much government money Obama and Biden would chip in for those plants, or how much of the $150 billion "clean energy" program would go toward coal.

Chu said carbon dioxide controls on power plants could increase electricity bills by about 25 percent. But he said the higher costs are not the biggest challenge.

Carbon dioxide that is pumped underground could form a big bubble that finds its way out, or could turn acidic and create cracks in geologic formations that prompt leakage, Chu said. These potential problems, he said, are likely to bring lawsuits from residents where such projects are proposed.
"Why would there be a legal challenge?" Chu said. "Because there would be people saying I don't want this done in my back yard because if the carbon dioxide ever does bubble to the surface, it could actually kill people."

He also said that fly-ash emissions from coal-fired power plants amount to 100times more radiation than is released by nuclear power plants.

"If you're concerned about radiation, coal might be worse than a nuclear reactor," Chu said. "It's worse in every other respect."

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com

or 304-348-1702.

TAMA!

http://www.aseanaffairs.com/philippine_galoc_oil_unfit_for_local_use

October 12, 2008

Philippine Galoc oil unfit for local use
Even before the first flow of oil from the Galoc field, project operator Galoc Production Company (GPC) already set on record that the crude to be extracted will not be fit for domestic use, reported a local daily.

The Manila Bulletin quoted GPC country manager Kay Palma as telling reporters that "the oil recovered from the Galoc field will not be used for domestic supply as the country lacks the facility to refine its type of crude."

The paper noted that such pronouncement would ‘dash all hopes that the Galoc find will shore up the country’s energy independence’ or that it will displace about 6.0-percent of the country’s current oil imports.

Like the previous crude production from the Malampaya field, it was known that the problem with the Galoc find would be the oil’s high mercury content which is best suited for processing in bigger refineries in South Korea and Singapore, so the toxicity problem could be well-managed.

Ano ba iyan?! Ang dami nating oil refineries dito na nagpo-proseso ng imported oil pero yung sarili nating langis hindi natin magamit dahil lamang sa walang oil refinery na babagay dito. Ang baba pa naman ng presyo ng langis ngayon. Dapat siguro since marami ang nakatambak na langis sa Palawan e magtayo tayo ng oil refinery para diyan. Of course, huwag diyan sa Palawan kasi masisira ang likas na yaman.

^^ ndi ganoong kadami ang oil reserve ng palawan. if im not mistaken, yung galoc oil reserve is good only for two yeArs, kaya ndi permanent yung structure doon; unlike in malampaya na talagang may platform at pipeline papuntang batangas.

SMC takes first bite at our largest oil refiner, Petron. SMC will buy upto 51% of Petron when deal is closed.

http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20081223-179518/SMC-takes-10-direct-stake-in-Petron

SMC takes 10% direct stake in Petron
Food and beverage giant to buy SEA Refinery next
By Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12/23/2008

San Miguel Corp. Monday finalized a transaction that gave the diversifying food and beverage conglomerate its first direct stake in the country’s largest petroleum refiner and retailer.

According to an official familiar with the transaction, San Miguel Monday bought a 10.1-percent stake in Petron Corp. directly from SEA Refinery Corp., the local entity owned by Ashmore Group.

The deal was confirmed by San Miguel Corp. vice chair and president Ramon S. Ang.

Based on data from the Philippine Stock Exchange, the cross sale represented 946,885,554 shares at P6.85 or a
total of P6.49 billion.

Asked whether San Miguel is still interested in acquiring control of Petron, Ang replied through a mobile phone message, “yes … tomorrow [SMC will acquire] 51 percent.”

A total of 946 million shares were crossed at the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday morning, at P6.85 apiece—the same price at which the UK-based fund manager acquired 40 percent of Petron from the government last week.

The value of the crossed shares stands at P6.48 billion.

On top of San Miguel’s ownership, the company will also acquire a majority of SEA Refinery, resulting in a combined direct and indirect stake in Petron of 51 percent, said the official who requested anonymity because the latter transaction has yet to be completed.

Click the link for complete article.

The Malampaya natural gas is being used by some modes of transportation like buses and tricycles. Nagkaroon kasi dati ng test para sa mga bus na biyaheng Laguna-Batangas-Manila na pinatatakbo ng Malampaya natural gas. Okay naman yata.

Ang paggamit ng mga alternative energy resources at ang pagdiskubre ng mga oil fields sa Pilipinas ay malaking tulong sa hangarin ng Pilipinas na maging energy independent.