Petron to move out of Pandacan oil depot

Petron chairman & CEO Ramon Ang said they are now preparing to transfer their Pandacan facilities to another site within the next three years at a relocation cost of $500 million (P21.55 billion). “Paalis na kami talaga. Nag-file kami sa (We are really going. We filed with the) Supreme Court last year to say that we are moving out of Pandacan within our promised five-year period," he said. “Maybe within the next two to three years time," he added, “we can transfer." The move complies with the Supreme Court’s order for Petron Corp. to transfer its Pandacan facilities. “Kasi nagpaalam tayo kay Cardinal Rosales at Alfredo Lim na payagan muna kami ng limang taon bago makahanap ng malilipatan, at hindi na namin iko-contest ‘yun sa court, na mag-stay," he said. (We asked Manila Archbishop Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim to give us five years to look for a relocation site, and we never contested the court order nor insisted on staying.) Ang said the $500 million relocation would be funded by its parent company. “We will spend at least $500 million. We have a parent company named San Miguel Corporation, which (has) so much cash," he said. He said he expects the two other Pandacan oil figures – Chevron and Pilipinas Shell – to follow suit. “’Yung iba pwede rin sumabay sa amin (The others can join us) later on," he said. Petron transfer to help cut costs The relocation of Petron’s facilities will help cut costs, according to Ang. “By transferring out of Pandacan, our cost would be lower," he said. "Kasi ‘yung barko na naghahatid sa Pandacan, kailangan 1,000 tons lang, maliliit lang, mababaw kasi ang Pasig River. Sa bago naming lilipatan, 20,000 tons na." (Because the vessel that delivers to Pandacan needs to be 1,000 tons only, small only because the Pasig River is shallow. In our new relocation site, it’s already 20,000 tons.) In January 2011, Petron signed an agreement to buy 35 percent of Manila North Harbour Port Inc. from the Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. Petron is one of three major oil players in Pandacan. The Pandacan depot is jointly operated by Petron, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines Inc., and has been hounded by health, environmental safety and security issues for years. Depot crucial to fuel, industrial needs The Pandacan oil depot supplies roughly 50 percent of the country’s total fuel demand and 100 percent of the transport and industrial sector’s lubricants. More than 1,800 retail stations in Regions 1 to 4 — of which about 500 are in Metro Manila — get their fuel supply from the facility. The Pandacan depot serves 70 percent of the shipping industry’s fuel needs and 75 percent of the region’s aviation fuel requirements. –AY/MRT/VS, GMA News