By Myrna M. Velasco The newly commercially launched Alegria onshore oil field in Cebu will be scaling up production to 1,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD), a five-fold increase from its preliminary level of 200 barrels output when it was inaugurated by President Rodrigo Duterte last week. In an interview with reporters, Edgar Benedict Cutiongco, assistant country manager of service contractor China International Mining Petroleum Company Limited (CIMP), has indicated that oil yield will be ramped up at the time that they will harness all the wells that are now deemed ready for commercial production. “Right now in this oil field, our rate of production is 200 barrels per day, but it will go up to 1,000 barrels per day when we start producing in all of our wells. We have six (6) wells here, but when we start producing in all wells, that’s the upgraded production rate,” he said. He qualified that the field’s life cycle will be for 19 years; and at its reckoning period in 2037, the country’s first onshore oil field would already yield up to 3.0 million barrels of oil. “We’re looking at 19 production wells – P2, P3, P6 wells, we have a development plan to develop the whole field,” the CIMP executive qualified. Output from the field, according to Cutiongco, is currently being sold to an industrial user – chiefly in the cement sector; but when production escalates, they are also eyeing other buyers like refineries, marine vessels and other industries like power. The price of the Alegria oil output, the CIMP executive said, has been indexed to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, also known as “light sweet” oil. Patently, this crude grade has been categorized “light” because it is relatively low density; and it is also called “sweet” because of its low sulfur content.  Based on that pricing benchmark, the Alegria crude oil could then be selling at US$68 to $71 per barrel if referenced on global oil trading costs. “We sell it (Alegria oil) locally, we have industrial buyers – it is direct to a bunker-fired power plant. But it could also be viable for marine bunkering and we can also sell it to a refinery,” Cutiongco said. He qualified that at this point, “we’re still looking at the best possible option in our sales, and we’re still establishing relationships.” Cutiongco noted that the Chinese firm’s focus now is on oil yield, but their next target will be on gas production that they would be able to feed to prospective power plant off-takers. “We have some wells that are produce-able for gas, what we’re doing is we’re incorporating the zones with gas. That’s another project, it will be a sub-project – because that will fuel a power plant,” he stressed. As culled from project blueprint, the initial target will be for a 6.0MW capacity of power plant; but with a higher yield potential for 65MW capacity in the longer-term. On royalty sharing with government, Cutiongco explained that profit remittance to the State will be after cost recovery of the investments – which the company initially pegged at US$2.0 million to US$3.0 million per onshore well – or currently at aggregate US$30 million.