By Minerva Bc Newman Cebu City – A field of natural gas and crude petroleum deposits in Alegria town in southwest Cebu province can produce commercial quantities of gas and oil until 2037, the Department of Energy (DOE) in Central Visayas said. DOE OIC for Central Visayas Engr. Saul Gonzales told Manila Bulletin the entire town of Alegria is an oil field. It has 9.42 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves with a potential of 70 percent for extraction or an estimated 6.6 billion cu/ft of recoverable resource for commercial use. Alegria also has an estimated 27.93 million barrels of oil (MMBO) with a possible production recovery of 3.35 million barrels or a conservative estimate of 12 percent of total oil in place/reserves, Gonzales said. He said Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and China International Mining Petroleum Company Limited (CIMP Co. Ltd) chair Lam Nam signed a joint declaration of commerciality last March 14 formalizing the contract of CIMP Co. Ltd which covers the Alegria oil field. CIMP started exploration and drilling activities at Alegria in 2009. In 2016, the DOE and CIMP established that the oil field has commercial quantities of natural gas. Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said he was glad to hear from DOE that the oil in Alegria is of commercial value. Davide was in the town last week for the inauguration of its new municipal building. Dennis Guardiario, site engineer for the East Asia drilling contractor, said the third, fourth and fifth well in Alegria could produce 300 to 400 barrels of crude oil daily. The sixth well is still being tested. Gonzales said the oil and gas will spur the economic growth not only of Alegria but the entire province, or even the country. CIMP has the option to sell or to produce /electric power for domestic use by connecting Alegria to the distribution grid of CEBECO or the transmission grid of the National Grid Corporation of the Phil. (NGCP). Once CIMP starts generating power, it will share the benefits with the host community, the province and the region through a royalty tax, Gonzales said. A monitoring group composed of representatives from the local communities, local governments, NGOs and other stakeholders will be created to monitor CIMP compliance of all and conditions of the permit to implement the development plan.