Gas reserves found in RP

Gas reserves found in RP

MANILA (AP); Additional gas reserves have been discovered at the Philippines' Camago-Malampaya deep-water gas field off the northern island of Luzon, making it the largest gas find in the country's history, President Joseph Estrada said Friday.

Preliminary results of drilling at the Camago-Malampaya field show the presence of some 3.2 trillion to 4 trillion cubic feet of gas, Estrada said.

The gas volume in Camago-Malampaya was originally estimated at 2.6 trillion cubic feet.

Camago-Malampaya is operated by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., or SPEX, a subsidiary of the Royal/Dutch Shell Group, which owns 45 percent of the consortium exploring the area. Other members of the consortium are Philippine National Oil Co.- Exploration Corp. with a 10 percent share, and Texaco of the United States.

Estrada said studies also indicate the presence of more than 200 million barrels of oil, of which 30 million barrels were estimated to be recoverable.