Friday, October 10, 2008

Eureka Oil!


MANILA, Philippines—After numerous delays, the Galoc oil field off northwest Palawan has finally produced oil, boosting the country’s hope to become 60-percent energy self-sufficient by 2010.
First discovered in 1981 and appraised in 1988, the Galoc field was left undeveloped due to the risks associated with its development and the then low price of oil.
Delays in the delivery of the first oil mean that its operators have missed this year’s oil price rally. Global crude oil prices are now around $89 a barrel, well off highs near $150 a barrel in mid-July.
In a joint statement, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes and Jeff Davison, chief operating officer of service contract operator Galoc Production Co. (GPC), said the first well opened at 10:45 a.m., with first oil on board the vessel by 11:20 a.m.
GPC had repeatedly missed its first oil targets this year due mainly to bad weather.
Based on the consortium’s timetable, flow testing would be conducted over the coming weeks to stabilize production. Upon stabilization, production is expected to reach 20,000 barrels a day from the two wells.- By Abigail L. Ho, TJ Burgonio
this new project could well cut down philippine expenses and for sure help in boosting our economy. it might take a while though until we can benefit from the oil that has been found, but for sure in the long run, no filipino will ever complain about rollbacks and high prices. hopefully though after this breakthrough our economy will really imporve. like better education and housing for those less fortunate, since now the government will have more money to invest. but when you think about it, the expense alone for drilling in Palawan and for paying off our oil debts (if we have any) may just keep our economy in the same situation. it's nice to know though that the Philippines would not be an oil dependent country but an oil producing one. another advantage that we have now that oil has been struck in the Philippines is now aside from the agriculture exports we have we can sell our oil to other asian countries in need. although we should keep in mind that crude oil competition in asia is very much alive. with this being said, i will not be surprised that after all this discovery, the Philippine economy will not have drastic changes, just mininal ones, and filipinos will still continue to migrate abroad for greener pastures and the governemnt officials will still fight about governemnt related issues and people will still remain to hate our Dear President.
it's nice to know though that the Philippines is slowly making a name in the world market with oil and is in some ways trying to find ways and means to imporve it;s economy. GO PHILIPPINES! :)

6 comments:

karisse said...

Well, it's really nice to know that our country can now produce our own oil. What's good about this is that oil prices would somehow be stable since we no longer need to buy oil from abroad. In fact, neighboring countries would soon buy oil from us, isn't that great? But then again, let's not forget our corrupted politicians. I think in order for us to utilize our own oil we should not let other countries take hold of it freely,we should own that oil reserve 100%. We should not let foreigners gain some ownership or else, our country may not be able to benefit from it.

street_rulez said...

It is indeed a good news knowing that some day Philippines can be an oil-producing country. I hope that this project would continue and nothing will prevent this to happen. Since there are many things to consider to produce oil and continue production. If Philippines really becomes a country which is rich in oil, then it would be great for us as to boost our economy. Moreover, if this thing happens, we should be aware and take a close look of it and we should be careful in making decisions. If such, I think it would be better if we start producing in our own country first and when everything becomes stable, that's the time we can export to other countries.

ParadoxiC said...

Of course, this has been one of the main reasons why the Philippines is still battling its way in claiming the Spratly Islands for it is assumed to have been an oil reservoir for years.

Well good thing we found one on our native island itself, and this really opens up a lot of opportunities for the country if it'll be put into the right practice.

Problem is, we can't put down our guards. Americans do love the smell of oil, and we must be very careful in dealing with them.

Remember what they did to Iraq.

chupi said...

This is a good thing for our country at least now we get something from our own territory. However, this doesn't mean stable prices for oil in the Philippines since those who funded for the oil exploration and in the future for the extraction of oil would want their product sold somewhere it can be sold in a much higher rate.

Also from the news, our government can just beg for some percent from the 30% of what this project will earn. The whole 70% will go to those who invested on this project.

mundial17 said...

At last! Oil! Royal Dutch Shell has forcasted decades back that the Philippines indeed has Oil and Natural Gas Reserves in the country. Palawan isn't actually a new discovery. But finally, the government has allowed drillings to proceed. If they just allowed them to prospect 10years earlier then probably we wouldn't have felt the oil price hike over the past months as much as country did.

Yes Galoc Oil Platform is producing Oil. It takes 3 months before the Oil from the platforms get refined and sent to our gas stations. They'll be providing about 2% a day at full capacity of the country's total Oil demand. But that's good enough for a country that imports practically 100% of its Oil needs.

arathilis said...

our own oil. well any Filipino would be grateful hearing this news. Oil had given us so much burden that it became a cause of inflation in our country. We can surely use this resource and benefit out of it. Although I still consider that move of selling it to other country in order to generate income. Many Filipinos might disagree with that decision but we can make a fortune out of it. Just think of it as our country included in the oil distributors of the world. Although the oil they found maybe limited, any move we do with this resource will improve our economy.