Official backtracks on claim that oil spill stopped
An official of Petron Corporation retracted an earlier statement released by the company saying oil leak from the sunken tanker Solar I has stopped.
Petron's Health and Safety Officer Carlos Tan in an interview with local reporters yesterday admitted that bunker oil still seeps out of the sunken tanker but already on a minimal level.
Tan clarified that their first media release was based on the result of their aerial survey on the affected site and nearby coastline.
The same report is completely opposite with that of the Philippine Coast Guard's (PCG) which also conducted actual sea survey of the areas.
As of August 19, 2006, PCG observed a volume of oil slick at about 100-200 liters per hour coming form the near source of the spill.
Part of Petron's media release said "while our aerial surveys indicate that the leak has stopped, we have been gravely concerned about the possibility that the oil remaining in the vessel will continue to be released into the environment." The same report quoted Mr. Nicasio Alcantara, Petron's CEO Chairman and CEO.
Tan, in yesterday's press conference, first made a statement that the blabs of oil near the sunken site stopped. His statement created an impression that the oil leakage from the sunken vessel had already stopped.
However, after the press conference Tan issued another statement to some members of the media. He said his statement was based on their aerial survey which they conducted days ago. He did not elaborate more on the Coast Guard's report but said Petron is trying to help the affected people by bringing in the Shensei Maru, a Japanese ship owned by the Fukada Salvage and Marine Works.
Petron had coordinated with the Protection and Indemnity Club (P&I) which will pay for the engagement. P&I is the marine insurance of Sunshine Maritime Development Corporation which owns M/T Solar I. It covers third party liabilities and expenses arising from owning ships or operating ships as principal.
Tan said the bringing in of Shensei Maru is relative to Petron's action plan dubbed as Ligtas Guimaras. It is part of the company's immediate response plan. The immediate response has two parts -- the containment and recovery offshore and manual shoreline clean-up.
In the containment and recovery offshore plan, they are hoping to salvage the vessel through a remote operated vehicle (ROV). The ROV is equipped with a sonar sweep which could go as deep as 2,000 meters.
The sonar sweep will determine the exact location and position of the vessel which is estimated to be resting in the seabed in some 600 to 700 meters of water. They will also evaluate the risks.
Tan said the result of the underwater survey will determine the next course of action Petron is going to take. They have several options to take such as to remove the remaining oil or float the vessel with the cargo.
It is very hard to speculate right now on whether we can retrieve the vessel or not and when can we stop the leakage, said Tan.
Apart from the containment and recovery operations, the Ligtas Guimaras action plan of Petron also include the recovered oil disposal program, cash for work program, relief operations, partnership with LGU's and rehabilitation of the environment.