Senators are keen on securing firm assurances from the Department of Energy (DoE) that alternative sources of energy are being lined up to provide sufficient power stock once the Malampaya gas field supplying 40 percent of the Luzon grid dries up.
“We should,” Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III said, when asked if the Senate is seeking a briefing from the DoE and other stakeholders amid projections that Malampaya field is running out in 10 years.
The urgency for the government to address the issue was recently raised by Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio, citing the need to scout for alternative sources of energy, such as the Reed Bank that China is blocking.
Sotto confirmed over the weekend he would ask the Senate Energy Committee, chaired by Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, to look into the matter.
“Yes, we must look into this soon,” Sotto told the BusinessMirror.
Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III also acknowledged “it is already well known that the Malampaya supply is about to go dry.”
But he did not respond to a query on whether senators were already given firm assurance that clear alternative sources are now being pursued by the Duterte administration.
Billed as the first undertaking of its kind in the Philippines, the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project is said to employ state-of-the-art technology in drawing natural gas beneath deep Philippine waters, fueling three natural gas-fired power stations with total generating capacity of 2,700 megawatts, which provide from 40 percent to 45 percent of Luzon’s power supply.
Developed by Shell Philippines Exploration BV, the Malampaya gas field enabled the Philippines to import less fuel for power generation and, in the process, “provide foreign-exchange savings and energy
security” for the country.
But Carpio voiced concerns that the Philippine government now needs to firmly assert its rightful claim over areas covered by the country’s exclusive economic zone as it seeks alternatives to the Malampaya gas field.
The SC justice aired warnings that Luzon is likely to suffer from rotating brownouts if the government is unable to tap and develop alternative energy sources before Malampaya shuts down.