DOST endorses oil leak remediation technology - FPIC

Manila, Philippines - The First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC), the operator of a leaking oil pipeline that has affected the West Tower condominium and a portion of Barangay Bangkal in Makati City, said Wednesday its proposed technology for the recovery and treatment of the petroleum that leaked from the pipeline has been endorsed by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

In a statement, the FPIC said its multi-phase extraction (MPE) technology passed a review by the DOST’s Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI).

According to FPIC, it received a letter from ITDI director Nuna Almanzor detailing the satisfactory results of the environmental technology verification (ETV) conducted on the proposed MPE technology.

“The performance of the (proposed remediation) technology has been proven already and verified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The technology has been applied for remediation of various contaminated sites in US for many years with satisfactory results,” a part of the letter read.

According to FPIC, the review by the DOST of the proposed MPE technology was requested by the Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health (IACEH) in accordance with the government technology review protocol. The IACEH task force – composed of representatives from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Energy, Department of Health and the Makati City government – is mandated to ensure that the environmental remediation or removal of contaminants from affected areas in Bangkal will be successfully implemented.

The MPE technology will be provided by FPIC’s environmental services contractor, CH2MHill Philippines, Inc. The technology employed by CH2MHill will be the more permanent solution to the cleanup of Bangkal to address any long-term health risks for residents in the area, the FPIC said.

“We are thankful that concerned government agencies are recognizing that we are doing our very best to tap both local and international experts to achieve our goal of mitigating potential environmental and health risks of the Bangkal incident,” said FPIC president Tony Mabasa.