NATURAL gas (natgas) production in the Philippines reached 33,356 million standard cubic feet (MMcf) as of May 4, data from the Department of Energy (DoE) showed.

This was 76.5 percent lower than 141,732 MMcf recorded in the same period a year ago.

Based on the DoE data, the power sector utilized the majority of the country’s natgas output at 31,935 MMcf, a decline of 75.8 percent from 132,009 MMcf yearover-year.

The industrial sector, meanwhile, used 15 MMcf while the transport sector did not utilize any natural gas.

The country’s total natural gas output stood at 2,424,147 billion cubic feet (Bcf), which includes production from the San Antonio gas field.

Of the total number, 2,290,904 Bcf of natgas output went to power consumption. Industrial and transport sectors used 40,733 MMcf and 184 MMcf, respectively.

The Energy department noted that data from 2000 to 2008 included natgas output from the San Antonio gas field of the PNOC Exploration Corp. (PNOC EC), the exploration arm of the Philippine National Oil Co.

San Antonio gas field was the first natural gas discovery in the country and was developed as a demonstration project to enhance the country’s experience on gas production.

The said gas field commenced production in 1994 and supplied the fuel requirements of a 3-megawatt (MW) power plant in Echague, Isabela. The gas field produced 3.54 billion cubic feet of gas until its decommissioning in 2008.

Currently, it is the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project in Northwest Palawan that serves as the country’s primary source of natural gas.

The $4.5-billion Malampaya gas field — which fuels about 21 percent of the country’s electricity requirements — is expected to be depleted by 2027 at the latest.

Previously, the DoE indicated that although reserves from the Malampaya gas field would last until 2027, it won’t be sufficient to fuel energy requirements in the future.

The government is yet to decide on whether or not to extend Service Contract 38, which covers the Malampaya project, as talks are ongoing. It will lapse in 2024.

This has prompted the agency to actively seek investments in the country’s oil and gas industry in the hopes of finding the next Malampaya and securing the country’s future energy supply.

But in a recent virtual forum organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines, the DoE echoed the need to clear legal bottlenecks to entice investors to pursue the expansion of indigenous energy explorations.