Caltex dismantles Pandacan fuel tanks

Caltex Philippines Inc. announced yesterday that it has completed dismantling its six fuel tanks as part of its commitment to scale down its Pandacan depot operation.

Caltex officials said they are two months ahead of schedule based on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by the ‘Big 3’ oil companies, Department of Energy and the City of Manila last June.

They said two tanks, including a huge 36,000 barrel capacity tank, were brought down last September while the other four was dismantled last Oct. 21.

The six tanks have a combined storage capacity of 69,000 barrels. Total cost to remove the tanks reached over P50 million, Caltex said.

The six tanks also represent Caltex’s share of the 28 storage tanks to be taken down which the industry identified for demolition in the MOU. The demolition of the 28 tanks will result in the agreed 40 percent scale down of the existing collective storage capacity at the Pandacan terminal. "The focused commitment by our operating personnel to dismantle these tanks in accordance with the signed memorandum of understanding — and doing so ahead of schedule, underscores the depth or our commitment to honor this agreement with the City of Manila and DOE," Caltex country chairman Timothy D. Leveille said.

Leveille said that although discussion with Petron and Shell on the commercial and operational aspects of the scale down joint operations at Pandacan were still ongoing, "we felt it was important to proceed rapidly with the scale down portion that we directly controlled." – Donnabelle Gatdula