Philippines’ energy department put out an upbeat note of a new inland oil deposit discovered in Cebu, and raising the country’s prospects as a potential future oil producer.

“The discovery in the Service Contract 44 (of Gas2Grid) is a boost to the country’s ‘upstream’ industry, and we will provide necessary support to advance its development,” said Department of Energy secretary Jericho Petilla. It was the Australian firm Gas2Grid Ltd which found the oil at the Malolos-1 well. The exploratory drilling contract for the Malolos-1 well was awarded in January 2004. SC 44 has been calculated by Gas2Grid to be capable of producing oil in the range of 4 to 42 million barrels a day with a “most likely” assessment at 12 million barrels per day.

Petilla said the discovery of the deposit, located in Cebu’s western coast, would be good for the country’s energy security efforts as it is currently dependent on imports. “The operator [Gas2Grid] has drilled for a decade prior to the discovery... with the extension, Service Contract (SC) 44 operator was given an additional 12 months to further develop the well,” the energy secretary said.