Shell to stay in controversial Pandacan oil depot

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. will likely not follow other oil players that have moved from Pandacan to the Manila North Harbor. Pilipinas Shell country chairman Ed Chua says “for now, our preference is to stay where we are. We have scaled it down and it is a continuing process." Shell, Petron Corp. and Chevron Philippines jointly operate the Pandacan oil depot, which was hounded by health, security, and environmental safety issues in recent years. Petron wants to convince Shell and Chevron to move the depot to North Harbor where Petron's major shareholder, San Miguel Corp., owns a stake. Chua said Wednesday there were discussions with Petron but that Shell was not keen on moving from Pandacan. Speaking to reporters at the First Philippine Energy Efficiency Forum, organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Chua said “at this point in time we are quite happy where we are. It has a lot of advantages." Chua says Shell and Petron are looking at the move from different perspectives. “They're looking not just from a fuels depot point of view. I'm sure there are other drivers for them in terms of making that decision." “For us, we have different drivers, for them they're not just looking at a fuels depot. I imagine the other things that are driving them," he adds. Chua explains Shell’s oil pipeline from Batangas to Pandacan is a major factor for the decision. Shell's 110,00 barrels per day refiner is located in Tabango, Batangas. "Building a new facility is just going to add to cost and eventually we will have to pass that on to the market. If we can avoid incurring that cost, we're trying to avoid incurring additional cost. Also, if you're going to build a new facility it's much more expensive," Chua says. –VVP, VS, GMANews.TV