No oil spill in Bataan despite accidents, PCG says

There was no oil spill in Bataan despite the sinking of a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier in Limay town and the two vessels that ran aground in Mariveles town, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) assured on Saturday. “Coast Guard SAR Vessel 003, BFAR MCS Vessel 3010 and PCG Helo 1636 had surveyed the area and no oil spill was observed in the vicinity of the said LPG carrier and the vessels that ran aground," said PCG commandant Wilfredo Tamayo. The PCG, however, remained on guard to ensure that there would be no leakage of oil from the two incidents. “A prospective salvor has already surveyed Deborah I for her planned refloating and eventual removal from the site, while the aground vessels in Mariveles had already been removed," Tamayo said. In another incident, this one in Rosario, Cavite, the underwater pipeline of Petron that is intermittently leaking out fuel oil is being contained by a Petron work force under the supervision of the PCG.

The leak, which was at the rate of one liter per 10 minutes, started at the height of Typhoon Basyang, which lashed many parts of Luzon last Tuesday night. Coast Guard technical divers have already located the sources of oil leak on Petron’s submarine pipeline that was ruptured by the anchor of a vessel during the storm. The identified sources of said leaks included the earlier reported loose flange and a rupture measuring about 1 meter seaward from the flange. The said anchor was found biting on the pipe some 10 meters shoreward from the leaking flange. Tamayo said both Petron and Coast Guard are presently working on how to best seal the ruptured pipeline to be able to fully contain the leak until a more permanent solution is undertaken. The Coast Guard and Petron report that the situation is under control. PCG-National Capital Region-Central Luzon commander Commodore Luis Tuason said the PCG had hired the services of a technical diver to closely inspect the busted pipeline. “Aside from the five PCG divers, we hired a technical diver Roel Gasilan of the Adventure-bound Diving Underwater Exploration," he said. - KBK, GMANews.TV