A natural gas reservoir was recently discovered in the waters near the Malampaya gas field off Palawan province in the western Philippines.
The discovery was confirmed by Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. through a video posted on social media on Monday, January 19.
Mr Marcos said that this is the first significant natural gas discovery in the Philippines in over a decade.
"The discovered reservoir of Malampaya East One (MAE-1) is located about five kilometres east of the existing Malapaya field," Mr Marcos said in the video. "MAE-1 is estimated to contain around 98 billion cubic feet (2.78 billion cubic metres) of gas in place."
The President then explained in Filipino that the discovered volume of gas is equivalent to almost 14 billion KWh of electricity, which can provide enough power for 5.7 million households, 9,500 commercial buildings, or nearly 200,000 schools over the span of one year.
"This helps Malampaya's contribution and strengthens our domestic gas supply for many years," Mr Marcos said.
"Initial testing showed that the well flowed at [a rate of] 60 million cubic feet (1.7 million cubic metres) per day. This indicates that the well has the potential to produce even more, confirming that it is a high-productivity resource comparable to the original Malampaya wells."
Aside from natural gas, the discovery also includes condensate. Mr Marcos said this additional resource can help support the Philippine Government's efforts in ensuring stabilisation of the country's power supply.
The President assured that the exploration drilling works were carried out by a Filipino company and that no incidents occurred as a result of the drilling.