PNOC Exploration Corporation, the upstream petroleum and coal arm of the state-owned Philippine National Oil Company has recently decommissioned its San Antonio Gas Power Plant in Echague, Isabela after 14 years of providing electricity to more than 10,000 households in the province. The power plant was permanently shut down last July 31, 2008 after pressure from the gas well dropped below the required inlet pressure of the power plant. It simply means that the well can no longer supply the right amount of gas to keep the power plant running. A Plant Decommissioning Ceremony was held last August 29, 2008, attended by officers of PNOC EC, the Department of Energy and leaders of the plant’s host communities in Isabela.

The San Antonio Gas Power Plant is the first natural gas power plant in the country and is covered by Service Contract 37. The 3-MW power plant was fueled by natural gas coming from the San Antonio 1A gas field which was drilled in 1991, and confirmed to contain as much as 4 billion cubic feet of gas.

From its commissioning in 1994 up to its shut-down date, the power plant has generated a total of 187.48 GWHr of electricity while the well has produced a total of 3.54 BCF of natural gas. This translates to a total of PhP 4.11 million in Income Taxes and royalties close to PhP 10.5 million, which were divided among the national government, through the DoE; the province of Isabela; Municipality of Echague; and Barangays San Manuel and San Antonio. The total amount of gas produced from the San Antonio gas field is equivalent to 611 thousand barrels of oil which can be translated to around $21 million in foreign currency savings resulting from not having to import this amount of oil. This figure takes into account crude oil prices over the project life of the plant.

PNOC EC intends to produce the residual natural gas from the SA-1A well for a third-party gas buyer that can utilize the remaining gas at its current low wellhead pressure.