Gas beneath WPS enough to energize, boost economy

MANILA – The natural gas resources beneath the West Philippine Sea are so vast the cleaner fuel could energize the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids for at least 20 years, the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) on Sunday said.

“This is one of the compelling reasons why we have to secure our 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone and its contiguous area, including the seabed of the continental shelf up to 350 miles from the national coastal baseline. We have to defend the zone against China and other foreign threats,” said House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty.

According to Ty the government shuld be gearing its naval forces with neccesary arsenals to combat foreign threats.

The country’s territory in the West Philippine Sea is believed to have a number of Malampaya-like natural gas fields, the lawmaker said.

“We only need to harness three more Malampaya-like fields to power up the whole country.” he said.

Ty also cited the tremendous economic benefits of developing the country’s indigenous natural gas resources: Huge foreign exchange savings because the country would be spending less dollars to import coal and oil.

Since natural gas trades at a discount, electricity would be cheaper for all consumers, thus freeing up business and household incomes for other forms of spending;

Billions of pesos in new government royalties; Energy security and economic stability for the country. Ty said.

Based on geological surveys, the United States Energy Information Administration estimates that the West Philippine Sea may contain up to 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5.4 billion barrels of oil, “with the bulk of the resources likely located in the contested Reed Bank at the northeast end of the Spratlys.” pna