The San Gabriel power plant has ceased operations due to the gas supply restrictions from the Malampaya gas field in the Philippines. This is the second time during September 2023 that the 414 MW power plant halted operations due to a lack of supply.
The Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), the off-taker of the San Gabriel plant, is expected to experience reduced supply availability due to this, resulting in higher spot market prices. Since the San Gabriel plant is only designed to run on gas, repeated supply disruption from the Malampaya field will increase the grid’s fragility.
In early 2023, it was announced that the Malampaya field was expected to run out of gas in 2024. Post this, the Philippines will have to depend on imported LNG to meet domestic demands. However, in September 2023, the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) announced that it will start drilling two new wells at the location in 2025. The success rate of the drilling is around 80 per cent.
