Big 3 pick former Shell executive to head Pandacan oil depot audit

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s Big 3 oil companies have picked a former Shell executive to head the multi-sectoral safety and environmental audit of the Pandacan oil depot.

Industry sources told The STAR that Nards Ablaza, a former environment/health and safety manager of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. was chosen from a list of prospective convenors for the audit.

Petron, Chevron and Shell, the three locators at the Pandacan oil warehouse, decided to get a convenor to be able to smoothen the conduct of the environmental audit.

 “There are so many things that need to be done for the audit. They would need somebody to guide the flow and lead the individuals involved in the audit,” an industry source said.

So far, the audit is on track with volunteers ready to start the crafting of the terms of reference (TOR) for the selection of a third party independent risk assessor.

Sources said a number of business groups, civil society and Manila government representatives have already signed up to be part of the group that would come up with the TOR.

The Big 3 oil firms said the involvement of these groups would ensure the transparency of the process.

Shell country chairman Edgar Chua earlier said the results of the assessment would be honored by the oil firms. “If the assessment showed that we are not compliant with any environmental rules, we will definitely do something about it,” the Shell official said.

But Chua said he is optimistic the Pandacan facility has been following and even surpassed international and Philippine standards on safety and pollution control as attested by the yearly issuance of an environmental certificate from reputable government agencies such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The oil companies have taken extra steps since 2002 to reassure the residents around the Pandacan terminal by scaling down its operations, including the removal of liquefied petroleum gas storage, the reduction of other fuel storage tanks, as well as the creation of a green buffer zone.

Beyond these, there are now separate initiatives among the three oil firms to scale down their Pandacan operations further.

 “The capacity size and length of stay of Pandacan oil depot will depend on the economic activity in the future. There may be some oil depots that would be put up somewhere that may warrant to downsize our operations in Pandacan,” Chua said.