MANILA, Philippines?Petron Corp., the country?s largest oil refiner and retailer, will finally start relocating operations out of its Pandacan facility, hoping to complete the move in five years? time.

Petron chair and chief executive officer Ramon S. Ang said this was in line with the company?s agreement with the city government of Manila. Under the agreement, Petron would scale down oil operations over time, and eventually phase out all activities in Pandacan.

In an interview with the Inquirer, Ang said Petron solely took the initiative to move operations out of Pandacan to a facility at North Harbor.

Pandacan, a busy district in Manila, also plays host to two other oil companies: Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex).

Shell had earlier declared it would not move out of the Pandacan depot anytime soon.

The oil firms, dubbed the ?Big 3,? have long been under pressure to relocate operations out of Manila. Local government officials have repeatedly warned the oil firms that their operations pose a threat to the city.

The oil depot presents a target to criminals and terrorists, city officials added.

Ang said that when the Metro Pacific group offered its 35-percent stake in the North Harbor project, San Miguel seized the chance with an eye toward relocating the Petron facility at Manila?s port.

San Miguel holds a 37.8-percent stake in Petron as of end-August, up from the 19.83-percent interest it had initially acquired from the Ashmore group.

It was in May last year when Petron had agreed to start scaling down its depot operations, following a meeting with Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales and former Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim, said company president Eric O. Recto.

?We are ready to work on a program to scale down our Pandacan operations. This will coincide with what we foresee will be a growth in demand for petroleum products outside Metro Manila and a corresponding need for us to grow our facilities closer to the emerging demand centers,? Recto earlier explained.

He noted that this approach would address concerns of dislocation among employees and other people who depended on the depot for livelihood.

?We therefore appreciate the efforts ... of the government to come up with a workable solution that will allow burden-sharing among industry, local government and the national government,? Recto had said.