Top 10 oil, gas developments of 2025

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

Here is my list of the most significant global, regional and national stories about oil and gas energy in 2025. The first seven are global and regional, the next three are national.

One, global oil consumption keeps rising despite anti-fossil fuel narratives. World consumption (in million barrels per day) expanded from 30.9 in 1965 to 59.3 in 1985, 84.2 in 2005, 93.3 in 2015, 103.8 in 2024 and 105.5 in the third quarter (Q3) 2025. The largest demand in 2025 is the US with 20.9 followed by China with 17.1 and Europe with 13.9.

Two, world oil prices are fluctuating with current prices similar to nearly two decades ago. Dubai crude oil nominal prices (in US$ per barrel) increased from 1.90 in 1972 to 10.70 in 1975 or a fivefold increase, then tripled to 35.69 in 1980, declined to 20.21 in 1990, 26.27 in 2000, 77.78 in 2010, the all-time high of 109.06 in 2012, 96.38 in 2022, 79.61 in 2024 and 64.84 in October 2025. (Sources: 1965 to 2022 from Energy Institute Stat. Review of World Energy (EI-SRWE) 2025; 2024 and 2025 from OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report, November 2025).

Three, global gas demand also keeps rising despite anti-hydrocarbon narratives. Consumption (in billion cubic meters) increased from 630 in 1965 to 1,626 in 1985, 2,744 in 2005, 3,476 in 2015, 4,128 in 2024 and a projected 4,193 in 2025. The largest consumers in 2024 were: the US with 902, Russia with 477 and China with 434.

Four, liquified natural gas global prices are also fluctuating. Japan LNG prices (in US$ per million BTU) declined from 5.10 in 1984 to 3.45 in 1992, then 4.09 in 2002, 16.17 in 2012, 16.86 in 2022 (Russia-Ukraine war started), 11.73 in 2024 and 11.83 in October 2025. (Sources: EI-SRWE 2025, Platts).

Concepts like “peak oil” or “peak gas” (the maximum production after which output declines as the resources are depleted) as “substitute” renewables come in are fake narratives. Both production and consumption will keep rising because demand for oil-gas plus hundreds of petrochem products from paints and varnish, nylon and asphalt, ammonia and fertilizers will never decline.

Five, LNG remains a reliable source of electricity. From our visit last month to JERA Co’s Futtsu thermal power station (5,160 MW) in Chiba, Japan, the largest gas plant in Japan and the third largest in the world, their combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology continues to provide competitively priced electricity via higher thermal efficiency, easier daily start and stop (DSS) and quick responses to demand fluctuations.

Six, DSS increases as more intermittent sources like solar are added to the grid. In the case of the Futtsu gas plant, the number of start-stop cycles has increased from 1,027 in 2019 to 1,874 in 2022 and 2,564 in 2024. The plant’s utilization has decreased from 67.4 percent in 2019 to 50.0 percent in 2024 and power generation has decreased from 314 GWH in 2019 to 231 GWH in 2024.

Seven, PacificLight Power (PLP), the Singapore subsidiary of Meralco Power Gen, commissioned in mid-2025 the 100-MW Fast Start gas plant with a large-scale Battery Energy Storage System, the first CCGT with BESS in Singapore. This is in addition to PLP’s existing 830-MW CCGT plant that has been operational since 2013, the most efficient power plant in Singapore following its Advanced Turbine Efficiency Package upgrade that increased the plant’s capacity from 800 MW to 830 MW.

Eight, the formation of Chromite Gas Holdings Inc. (CGHI) in early 2025 with MGEN holding 60 percent and Aboitiz Power (AP) holding 40 percent. CGHI then partnered with San Miguel Global Power (SMGP) to form LNG Philippines (LNGPH) (67 percent CGHI and 33 percent SMGP). They own and operate three large facilities in Batangas: two gas plants – South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC, 1,200 MW) and Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI, 1,275 MW) – and the Linseed Field Corp. which owns the LNG import and regasification terminal. LNGPH produces 18 percent of Luzon’s power needs. SPPC and EERI have a combined capacity of 2,475 MW that is scalable to 2,907 MW by 2030 through planned expansions.

Nine, the Department of Energy awarded eight Petroleum Service Contracts (PSCs) worth $207 million in October 2025, six for oil-gas and two for hydrogen exploration. Among the awardees were the consortium of PXP, Forum, Philodrill and Anglo Philippines in offshore west Palawan and the consortium of Triangle, Sunda, PXP and Philodrill in offshore Sulu Sea/BARMM. Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP), chairman of PXP Energy, expressed strong optimism for the PSCs awarded to them.

Ten, Prime Energy is expanding its gas exploration fields and deepwater wells via Malampaya Phase 4 (MP4). Ayala Energy scrapped its planned 1,100 MW CCGT in Batangas. Both announcements were made in mid-October 2025.

Two local energy firms have regional experience and partners in operating LNG plants, MGEN with PLP in Singapore and AP with JERA Co. in Japan. These are good initiatives and partnerships.

The Philippines should prioritize business-as-usual energy development, add more hydrocarbons and fossil fuels to the energy mix and pause the expansion of intermittent wind-solar. As shown by the Futtsu gas plant experience in Japan, as more intermittent sources are added to the grid, the gas plants suffer rising start-stop cycles, declining utilization rates and declining power generation.

We should prioritize net growth and not net zero. Prioritize fast industrialization and modernization and not decarbonization. Prioritize economic prosperity and not energy poverty.