President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced a significant breakthrough in the country’s energy resources through a video posted on his official page.

The Malampaya East-1 well is estimated to contain about 98 billion cubic feet of gas in place – enough to power 5.7 million homes, 9,500 buildings, or roughly 200,000 school buildings for a year.

Initial tests showed a well flow of 60 million cubic feet per day, demonstrating substantial gas production. Marcos said this output could be comparable to the existing Malampaya wells.

Aside from natural gas, condensate – a high-value liquid fuel – was also discovered, which Marcos said could help support government efforts to stabilize the country’s power supply.

The discovery marks Phase One of the four-phase Malampaya Drilling Campaign, which will also include the Kamago-2 and Bagong Pag-asa wells.

Marcos said the next steps involve completing and testing Kamago-3, followed by drilling the Pag-asa exploration well to pursue additional potential gas resources.