MALAYA EDITORIAL: WHO IS FEEDING NOYNOY NONSENSE?
MANILA, JUNE 2, 2011 (MALAYA) 'There is no need to run to Brunei for (non-existent) help, and in so announcing make the President appear to be just making talk.'
ON hearing President Aquino say that he would be seeking the help of Brunei in tapping the Philippines' natural gas deposits for public transport, we could not but wonder – for the nth time – who was feeding him such inane statements. The President is on a two-day visit to the sultanate which ends today. On such occasions, it is usual – in fact, demanded – that some references to improving bilateral relations be made. But some care must be made that pro forma statements are based on facts, not plucked from thin air.
Brunei indeed is ranked as the 35th biggest producer of natural gas worldwide. The ranking is somehow misleading because Brunei exports most of its output and is, in fact, the top regional source of natural gas.
But – and this is the big but – the sultanate has close to zero possession of natural gas technology – from exploration, to commercial production, to processing and to export. It is almost 100 percent dependent on technology on the Shell subsidiary that has been running its oil and gas fields for over 80 years.
Aquino does not have to look far. Royal Dutch Shell, the Dutch-Anglo global oil giant, has a local subsidiary that installed the Malampaya natural production platform and the pipeline to Batangas and continues to run the facility.
Moreover, Shell Philippines Exploration is also active in local oil and gas exploration.
Just slightly over a week ago, it started drilling the Gindara 1 well at Service Contract 54 B, a prospect south of Malampaya and adjacent to the Nido, Cadlao and Matinloc oil fields – all commercial discoveries, albeit modest ones and soon exhausted.
Now, as to using natural gas to power buses and cars – presumably in its compressed form or CNG – the reason the seven-year-old program seeking to push this has not taken off the ground (only 30 buses are running on CNG, against the target of 3,000 buses by 2007) has nothing to do with finding or developing local gas deposits.
The program can tap imported CNG – yes, including that coming from Brunei. The trouble is that for CNG to become a viable fuel for public transport, a pipeline must be laid from the offloading terminal in Batangas to Metro Manila. The Department of Energy is now preparing to bid out the proposed pipeline as part of the Public-Private Partnership initiative of Aquino.
And how did we find out that the CNG set-up envisioned in the 2004 program was not viable without a pipeline? The original set-up was pilot-tested by Pilipinas Shell, the local oil refining and marketing subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.
The actual experience is right here. The problem has been pinpointed and the possible solutions have been identified.
There is no need to run to Brunei for (non-existent) help, and in so announcing make the President appear to be just making talk.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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