SEN. Pia Cayetano vowed to support the passage of a bill that would further develop the exploration of natural gas in the country.
Cayetano, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, took up on July 18 the proposed Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry Development Act.
The panel also tackled other bills that seek to address the imminent depletion of the Malampaya gas and facilitate the country’s transition toward cleaner fuel sources. The Malampaya Deepwater Gas-to-Power project off Palawan is the country’s first and only indigenous gas resource.
Sen. Pia Cayetano. PHOTO BY J. GERARD SEGUIA
It supplies about 20 percent of Luzon’s electricity needs.
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“It is important that we have policies that will support more exploration of natural gas because energy security depends on us having our own supply,” she said.
Cayetano said the aim is to make the country “less dependent on international factors that affect the prices of our energy sources.”
She said her recent tour of the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform opened her eyes “to the need for further exploration of indigenous gas because it was key to the country’s energy security.”
The energy committee also discussed Senate Bill (SB) 152 and SB 1991, which deal with the midstream natural gas industry, specifying the gas value chain. SB 1944 and SB 2247 provide the framework for the Philippine Downstream Natural Gas Industry and its transition from an emerging industry into a mature industry. The bills also identified liquefied natural gas as “a bridge fuel” toward energy transition, which is a cleaner fuel than coal.
“You all know that the energy issues require long-term solutions. So we must act today to ensure energy sustainability, self-sufficiency, and reliability for the future,” Cayetano said.
“There are really no shortcuts. There may be band-aid solutions, but there really are no sustainable solutions that can be made overnight. The only things that can possibly be made in the short term are good policies,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian lauded Prime Energy’s commitment to further explore Philippine natural gas resources.
“This is the first time I’m seeing true exploration. There are as many paper explorations. Remember, there are many press releases; they will explore,” he said.
“But I believe we now have a serious company, a serious player who will undertake actual drilling,” he said, referring to Prime Energy, a subsidiary of Prime Infra and operator of Malampaya.
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