Business NEWS

The operator of the Malampaya gas field is scheduling at least four “production holds” or gas restriction occurrences next year, according to the Department of Energy.

Despite stifled demand because of the re-imposition of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the so-called NCR plus bubble, prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) have been hitting record-spikes in recent trading days because of the combined impact of simultaneous power plant outages and the gas restriction at the Malampaya field.

Diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corporation (SMC) has decided not to submit a tender for the 45-percent stake in the multi-billion Malampaya gas field venture that is currently being unloaded by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX), the operator of the facility which is a subsidiary-firm of multinational energy giant Royal Dutch Shell.

A consortium led by Hong kong-based First Pacific Company Limited of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan has submitted last week its “final non-binding offer” to acquire the 45-percent stake of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) in the multi-billion dollar Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project.

Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., the operator of the multi-billion Malampaya gas field project, bagged anew the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI) Award for “excellence in reporting’ under the oil and gas category.That recognition had been bestowed on SPEX for being among the companies that submitted “the best and most comprehensive data,” with least discrepancy after the reporting and reconciliation process carried out by PH-EITI.

The gas output of the Malampaya field was significantly down last year to 107.902 billion standard cubic feet (bscf) from an all-time high of 155.495 bscf in 2019 – and that was mainly attributed to demand crash because of slowdown in economic activity triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The remaining potential yield of the Malampaya gas production facility could go as high as 1.6 trillion cubic feet (TCF), or half of the current capacity of the field that is now being funneled for the requirements of more than 3,200 megawatts of gas-fired power capacities in the country.

The Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project had already turned in P311 billion worth of revenues to the Philippine government since the start of its commercial operations, according to Senate Committee on Energy Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian.

The Philippine government is dangling at least eight conditions that the consortium-members of Service Contract (SC) 38 led by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) must comply with for the license extension of the $4.5 billion Malampaya deep-water-gas to power project.

The $565 million sale of American energy giant Chevron Corporation for its 45-percent stake in Malampaya to businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Malampaya LLC is a “voidable contract,” the Department of Energy (DOE) has disclosed in a Senate hearing.

State-run Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) has initially sounded off interest in the 45-percent shareholdings of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. (SPEX) in the multi-billion Malampaya gas field venture.