PHL fossil fuel reserves valuation declines in 2023

THE VALUE of the Philippines’ fossil fuel reserves declined sharply in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.

The PSA said the value of Class A coal, oil, natural gas, and condensate reserves declined 46.5% to P317.65 billion.

Natural resource classifications, such as “Class A,” typically refer to resources that are validated, akin to the category of “proven reserves” in petroleum economics.

The value of Class A coal reserves fell 48.7% to P271.57 billion.

Class A oil reserves were valued at P15.99 billion, down 16.2%.

The value of natural gas reserves dropped 67.9% to P7.28 billion.

Meanwhile, condensate reserves declined to P22.807 billion in 2023 from P22.810 billion a year earlier.

“The total resource rent of the four non-renewable energy resources contributed P46.59 billion or 0.2% to the gross domestic product of the Philippines in 2023,” the PSA said.

Resource rent is the surplus value accruing to the extractor or user of an asset, calculated after all costs and normal returns have been taken into account, according to the PSA.

Class A coal stocks were estimated at 411.71 million metric tons (MT) last year, up 17.8%. Coal extracted rose 21.5% to 19.56 million MT.

Reserves of Class A condensate increased 19.3% to 8 million barrels last year. Extracted reserves, on the other hand, dropped 29.6% to 1.90 million barrels.

Meanwhile, Class A oil reserves totaled 30.41 million barrels of oil (bbl oil) in 2023, down 1.6%. The extraction of oil decreased to 501.20 thousand bbl oil or 10.2%.

“Class A natural gas reserves decreased by 80.5% from 100.21 standard cubic feet of gas (scf) in 2022 to 19.55 billion scf in 2023,” the PSA said.

“The extraction of natural gas also declined by 28.1% from 112.17 billion scf in 2022 to 80.66 billion scf in 2023,” it added.

Citing the System of Environment-Economic Accounting 2012 Central Framework classification, the PSA defined Class A energy reserves as “commercially recoverable resources that are confirmed to be economically viable by a defined development project or operation.”

“The Energy Accounts of the Philippines aims to provide information on the volume and value of stocks and changes in stocks of coal, oil, natural gas, and condensate resources in the country,” the agency said. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera