THE country’s natural gas output from January 1 to July 31 this year stood at 79,054 million standard cubic feet (MMcf), bringing to 2,376,230 billion cubic feet (Bcf) the total production since 1994.
“The 2021 actual consumption and production data covers January to July 31, 2021,” data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed. The agency did not provide comparative figures. It only released on October 4 an updated data for the said period.
Further, it said, data from 1994-2008 includes production from San Antonio gas field.
Currently, the country’s main source of natural gas is the Malampaya gas field offshore Palawan. However, supply from the gas field is projected to be depleted as early as next year or latest by 2027.
In 2020, gas production declined to 141,732 MMcf from 155,495 MMcf in 2019. This year, the DOE recorded gas restriction incidents as gas nomination surged for more demand of electricity. Gas production peaked in 2019.
The output of the Malampaya gas field is seen to further decline this year due to the ongoing preventive maintenance from October 2 to 22.
Also, the operation of the Gas Export Pipeline (GEP) from the platform to the onshore gas processing plant will meet some challenges in view of its capacity limitation and distance.
“These events are perceived to impact in the nomination on the volume of natural gas from the Malampaya gas field by the identified customers and/or users,” DOE said.