President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced a significant natural gas discovery east of the Malampaya field, the first major find in more than a decade. The reservoir holds 98 billion cubic feet of gas, enough to power 5.7 million homes for a year.
In a video message on Monday, January 19, President Marcos shared details of the Malampaya East 1 (MAE-1) discovery, located about five kilometers east of the Malampaya gas field offshore Palawan. It marks the first milestone of the Malampaya Phase 4 Drilling Campaign, which also includes the Camago and Bagong Pag-asa wells.
Initial testing showed the well flowing at 60 million cubic feet of gas per day, suggesting potential for higher output. “This indicates that the well has the potential to produce even more, confirming it is a high-productivity resource comparable to the original Malampaya wells,” Marcos said.
The gas reserve equates to nearly 14 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, sufficient for millions of households, thousands of buildings, or nearly 200,000 schools. It also includes condensate, a high-value liquid fuel. This will help offset the decline of Malampaya, which currently supplies 40% of Luzon's power needs.
Filipino workers led the MAE-1 drilling without accidents or environmental incidents. “Ipinagmamalaki rin natin na Pilipino ang nanguna sa drilling na ito,” Marcos stated, translating to “We are proud that Filipinos led this drilling.” The project is executed by the SC 38 Consortium, headed by Prime Energy Resources Development B.V., alongside UC38, PNOC Exploration Corporation, and Prime Oil and Gas Inc.
Next steps involve further testing of Camago-3 and drilling the Pag-asa well. The find is crucial amid the Philippines' high electricity costs and reliance on imported coal for over half of its power generation, coupled with periodic outages. In 2022, former President Rodrigo Duterte halted oil and gas exploration in disputed South China Sea areas.
