Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil refiner and retailer, is building fuel storage facilities in Cavite, Navotas and Bataan, which will serve as new locations for the company’s depot operations.
According to Petron chair Ramon S. Ang, the oil company will complete the transfer of its depot operations from Pandacan in Manila to the new areas by 2016.
“We had an agreement with the city government of Manila that we will voluntarily move out of Pandacan in five years’ time. We are now preparing the transfer as we have begun building tank farms in Rosario, Cavite, Navotas and Limay, Bataan,” Ang said.
“We believe that by the first quarter of 2016, we will be in compliance to the agreement with the Manila [government].”
The oil company earlier said that it could spend as much as $500 million (roughly P20.5 billion at the prevailing exchange rate) to complete its relocation to five different sites in Luzon, which included Batangas and the Manila North Harbor.
Ang also assured the public that the relocation of its depot operations would not result in any increase in fuel prices because, by transferring out of Pandacan, Petron’s would be able to source petroleum products in bulk, effectively reducing the oil company’s costs.
Petron, along with Pilipinas Shell and Chevron, are under pressure to move their depot operations out of Pandacan due to safety concerns raised by various cause-oriented groups and the Church. The groups cited the welfare of the growing number of residents around the depot.
In October last year, however, former Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim vetoed for the second time Ordinance No. 8283, which was meant to reclassify the area of the oil depot from an industrial to a commercial zone, effectively driving out the oil companies operating in Pandacan.
The second veto means that the groups seeking to shut down the depot in Manila will now turn to Malacañang.
Lim was against the closure of Pandacan oil depot, saying that the move might be taken “as a sign of political immaturity and would [make] a bad impression [on] businesses and investors who rely on stability and predictability of government actions.”
Chevron, Pilipinas Shell and Petron have been operating in Pandacan for decades.
The depot is considered the largest and most important storage facility in the country.
On a nationwide basis, the Pandacan depot supplies 70 percent of the shipping industry’s needs; 90 percent of the country’s lubricant requirements; 75 percent of all aviation fuel needs; and 25 percent of the demand for chemicals.