The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is employing all available means, including space-based sensors, to secure the Malampaya oil and gas field off Palawan against potential intrusions, a senior Philippine Navy (PN) official said on Tuesday.
At a press briefing, PN spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the military is using all types of sensors to secure the energy field.
“Without going into details, the posture of the Armed Forces in securing Malampaya and Malampaya East-1 (MAE-1) is based, first and foremost, on the detection capability for maritime domain awareness. We utilized land-based, sea-based, air-based, and even space-based sensors,” he said when asked on what military assets are being used to keep watch on the gas field.
Asked whether space-based sensors were satellite surveillance systems, Trinidad declined to give specifics but said the AFP deemed it appropriate to use all forms of capabilities for this mission.
“The posture of the Armed Forces is to use all sources of information, this would include land, sea, air and space-based systems. So without (going) into details that is part as I can go,” he added.
Aside from the detection capability, Trinidad said the AFP is also capable of responding against threats or intruders in Malampaya. “Apart from the detection capability, we also have the response capability, by sea and air,” he added.
“Monitoring is not about numbers; it is about capability. The PN – the AFP as a whole has the capability to monitor Malampaya East-1 (MAE-1), it being five kilometers adjacent to the Malampaya Project,” he added.
Trinidad also said that the unit tasked to secure MAE-1 is Western Command, particularly Joint Task Force (JTF) Malampaya.
“The AFP has the monitoring and response capability through JTF Malampaya,” Trinidad said.MAE-1 is estimated to hold around 98 billion cubic feet of gas in place and marks the first milestone under the Malampaya Phase 4 drilling campaign, which also includes the Camago-2, Camago-3, and Bagong Pag-asa wells, aimed at securing additional gas resources.
The project is being undertaken by the SC3A consortium led by Prime Energy, in partnership with UC38, PNOC Exploration Corporation and Prime Oil & Gas Inc.
