By Myrna M. Velasco The Philippines will have new commercial-scale oil and gas discoveries as the Alegria oil field venture of a Chinese firm made formal the declaration of “commerciality” of the fuel find in Southern Cebu and will soon advance developments leading to extraction of warranted petroleum reserves. The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that “the Alegria oil field in Southern Cebu has commercial quantities of natural gas and oil resources.” Potential oil discovery, it was emphasized, could be for estimated 27.93 million barrels. Nevertheless, it was noted that production recovery rate (on a conservative estimate) may just hover at 3.35 million barrels of oil or an equivalent of 12 percent of the total oil reserves. For natural gas, the energy department emphasized that about 9.42 billion cubic feet (bcf) of reserves were found, although recoverable reserves may only reach 6.6 bcf or 70 percent of gas in-place reserves. The estimated petroleum discoveries thus prompted the signing of “joint declaration of commerciality” (JDC) on March 14, 2018 between the DOE and service contractor China International Mining Petroleum Company Ltd. (CIMP). Chinese firm CIMP is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-headquartered Polyard Petroleum International Group, which is the grantee of Service Contract 49 – of which drilling for petroleum resources in Cebu kicked off in 2009. The declaration of the field’s commerciality was signed by Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi and CIMP Co. Ltd. Chairman Lam Nam and witnessed by Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos and CIMP Co. Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Eric Lai. According to the energy department, it has been established as early as 2016 that “the oil field contained commercial quantities of natural gas upon its discovery of oil accumulation in the adjacent hydrocarbon traps within the Alegria underground area.” Petroleum yield at the Alegria field, the energy department emphasized, may stretch for 20 years or until year 2037 – as could be gleaned from the outcome of initial testing at the block. The commerciality of the field was formally established on December 19, 2017, hence, that is also held as the official commencement date of its commercial operations. Fundamentally, the JDC outlines the roles and responsibilities of CIMP Co. Ltd. particularly its compliance with all the conditions stated on its approved plan of development.