Guv wants Alegria oil search revived
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia wants to continue the oil exploration in the town of Alegria in southwestern Cebu through a joint effort between the Province of Cebu and a private firm.
This, after the Department of Energy (DOE) said it will continue the exploring and drilling of oil and gas reserve in Barangay Montpeller, Alegria with private contractors.
DOE Undersecretary Alejandro Sales said they terminated the contract last year between China International Mining Petroleum Co. Ltd. (CIMP), the service contractor, after the latter was "not able to perform adequately" following the Covid-19 pandemic.
CIMP had started the commercial operation of the Alegria Oil Field in 2019. Since then, the firm has already produced commercial oils and natural gas.
DOE and CIMP discovered that the oil field in Alegria contained commercial oil quantities holding an estimated 27.93 million barrels of oil, with a possible production recovery of 3.35 MMBO or a conservative estimate of 12 percent of total oil in place/reserves.
DOE said that as to natural oil, about 9.42 billion cubic feet (bcf) reserves were found in the said oil field, with the recoverable resource estimated at 6.6 bcf or about 70 percent of total natural gas in place/ reserves.
During the Mach 14 meeting between the governor and DOE officials, she proposed to have a private firm continue the oil exploration in Alegria, since the Capitol has been implementing major programs and projects through a Public-Private Partnership or PPP.
Sales welcomed Garcia’s proposal, saying the DOE is willing to facilitate discussions between the Capitol and potential private investors for the fruition of the plan.