Petron moving out of Pandacan by 2015

MANILA, Philippines - Petron Corp., the country’s biggest oil refiner, is moving out of the Pandacan oil depot in Manila by the end of 2015, Petron president and chief executive officer Ramon Ang said yesterday.

Ang said the company has spent P15 billion to build alternative depots in Rosario, Cavite; Navotas City; Limay, Bataan, and at the Harbor Center.

“By the end of 2015, we should be totally out of Pandacan,” he said, adding the transfer of their depot operations is a commitment with the local government of Manila.

The 33-hectare depot, the largest in the country, houses the storage facilities and distribution terminals of three major oil companies Petron, Chevron Philippines Inc. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.

Residents of Pandacan have long been complaining of the risks of having the oil depot in their area, prompting Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada to reiterate calls for the oil firms to move their facilities out of the city in compliance with the reclassification of the industrial complex into a commercial zone.

Various civic groups have scored the Pandacan oil depot for its security, health and environmental risks because of its proximity to residential areas and the Pasig River.

Petron has agreed to voluntarily move out of Pandacan in five years.

Pandacan residents had called for the removal of the oil depot following an oil spill at a warehouse along Old Panaderos street in Sta. Ana owned by a Filipino-Chinese businessman last year.

The Archdiocese of Manila said the Pandacan oil depot poses grave threats to the environment and to the residents.

The Department of Energy (DOE), for its part, is keeping a hands-off stance in the oil depot issue.