Petron set for P15B Pandacan exit plan

MANILA, Philippines—Petron Corp. seems all set to wave its Pandacan oil depot in Manila goodbye.

The country’s top oil firm in terms of market share has established alternative sites to the tune of P15 billion and is starting to use some of them, Petron chair and CEO Ramon S. Ang told reporters.

Already, he said, the company has established depot operations in Rosario, Cavite; Manila Harbour Centre, a 79-hectare industrial park in the port of Manila; Limay, Bataan; and Navotas City in Metro Manila, among other sites.

“We’ve spent about P15 billion for the transfer,” Ang said. “By end of 2015, we should be totally out of Pandacan.”

He said that was the commitment Petron made to the local government of Manila in 2010.

The Pandacan oil depot, the largest in the country, is jointly operated by Petron, Chevron Philippines Inc. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. It serves Metro Manila and nearby areas, delivering 24 million liters of fuel a day. Almost all of Metro Manila’s fuel requirements, or 50 percent of total country supply, goes through Pandacan, according to estimates.

Petron’s Pandacan depot terminal sits on a 12-hectare property adjacent to the depot facilities of Caltex and Shell. Petron’s terminal has a tankage capacity of 83 million liters or about 520,000 barrels, unloaded daily by five barges. It can supply petroleum products to the entire Metro Manila, as well as Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna and Rizal for at least 12 days.

Various groups have said the oil facilities in Manila’s industrial zone are potential targets of terrorists. It also poses health and environmental risks to residents and the nearby Pasig River.

In November 2010, San Miguel Corp., Petron’s parent firm, told the Supreme Court that the oil firm would cease its Pandacan operations within five years, or not later than 2016. The oil company initially expected to spend as much as $500 million, or roughly P21.8 billion, to establish other locations and move out of its present site.