Oil leak intensifies

THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said today that the oil leaking from the sunken tanker, MT Solar I, has intensified to 250 liters an hour.

The PCG also said it is on alert as it anticipates that the oil spill off the coast of Guimaras Island could reach the Visayan Sea and severely affect the environments of Masbate and Leyte.

As this developed, executives of the oil firm Petron Corp. and the owner of MT Solar I, will face a congressional probe on the accident beginning Monday, Aug. 28.

In an interview aired over radio station dzBB, Capt. Luis Tuazon Jr., PCG Western Visayas district commander, said the tanker “has not stopped leaking oil since it sank. At first, the estimate was at 200 liters per hour. For a while, it went down to 50 liters an hour, then intensified to 100 to 150 liters an hour. The latest data shows it’s now 250 liters an hour.”

He added that the Coast Guard was experiencing difficulty setting up booms around the sunken ship because of the strong waves caused by the inter-tropical convergence zone. “With the southwest monsoon, we expect waters to be moderate to rough,” he said.

Petron is supplying the chemical dispersants being used to clean the waters of the oil sludge.

In a separate interview, PCG spokesman Lt. Commodore Joseph Conio said he was waiting for a report from a survey team sent to verify a report that the oil spill has already reached the Visayan Sea.

“When the oil spill reaches the Visayan Sea, it has nowhere to go but towards Masbate and Leyte. That’s why our men are already in the area to stop it,” he told dzBB.

Conio said hopefully, the Japanese firm contracted to survey the sunken tanker would do its job quickly and recommend the fastest way to get the remaining bunker oil out.

Meanwhile, a hearing into the Guimaras oil spill will be conducted by the Senate Committee on Environment chaired by Sen. Pia Cayetano, jointly with the Joint Oversight Committee on Clean Water Act, also co-chaired by the Cayetano. Manila Rep. Miles Roces is the co-chairman of the joint oversight committee for the House of Representatives.

Invited to the hearing are Petron chairman Nicasio Alcantara, Sunshine Maritime president Clemente Cancio, Guimaras Gov. JC Rahman Nava, PCG Commandant Vice Admiral Arthur Gosingan, Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes, and Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz (who is also National Disaster Coordinating Council chairman).

Cruz, however, invoked President Arroyo’s Memorandum Order No. 108 to keep from attending Monday’s hearing. In his letter to Sen. Cayetano dated Aug. 25, he said he needed 15 days before he could attend any hearing and would have to refer the matter to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

Last Friday, Senate President Manuel Villar and Cayetano conducted separate inspections of Bgy. Tando, Nueva Valencia town in Guiramas, one of the areas hardest hit by the spill.

Cayetano, along with Rep. Roces and Bukidnon Rep. Nereus Acosta, took samples of the oil sludge.

“The inputs in this hearing will be used in the finalization of the committee report that would consolidate several bills on anti-marine pollution and the creation of an oil-spill liability fund,” Cayetano said in a press statement. “A separate report will lay down the implementing law in compliance with the country’s obligations to the 1992 International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund on Oil Pollution Damage.”

Villar, for his part, said the Senate would seek funds to address the oil spill under the proposed P46.4 billion supplemental budget. Reports said the House has allocated P2 billion under the supplemental budget for the Guimaras problem.

“We would allocate funding for Guimaras, but it is also important that Petron should contribute to the cleanup and rehabilitation of the affected areas,” Villar stressed.

(Condensed from reports of GMA News and AP published on Aug. 27, 2006. Click GMA News for the full stories on the oil spill.)

Chemicals sprayed to control oil spill

NUEVA VALENCIA, Guimaras – Coast guard and private contractors sprayed large amounts of chemical dispersant on a massive oil spill in the Visayas in a last-ditch effort to keep it from spreading, officials said Sunday.

However, a coast guard official conceded they did not know if they could contain the spill from the Solar I tanker because they have not yet determined if the tanker is still leaking oil more than two weeks after it sunk off Guimaras island.

“Because we’re not able to control the spill we have to continuously spray during daytime. That is the only thing that has helped a lot in keeping the oil from reaching the shoreline,” said local coast guard commander Harold Jarder.

“The threat is still there. We are not even sure how much of the oil has been spilled,” he added.

Jarder said it was a “necessity” that an underwater survey be conducted on the Solar I, which is lying some 640 meters (2,112 feet) underwater around 13.3 nautical miles south of Guimaras, beyond the reach of human divers.

The vessel went down in rough weather on August 11. Two crew men are still missing.

Some 50,000 gallons of oil has leaked from the tanker and environmentalists fear that the remaining 450,000 gallons of oil still in the Solar 1’s hold might also leak out. (AFP)

(Originally published on the ABS-CBN News web site. For the rest of the story, click here. Photo “borrowed” from the INQ7.net web site.)

An interview with Dr. Angel Alcala, former DENR chief

LAST week, the Visayan Daily Star was able to interview former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angel Alcala, who is a marine biologist, about the Guimaras oil spill.

Here are some excerpts:

V. Daily Star: What is the extent of the immediate damage?

Angel Alcala: As of now, I really don’t know the extent of damage but one thing I am sure of is that the fishermen can no longer go at sea and catch the fish – because marine life affected by the spill is no longer edible. The immediate effect of oil on top of the water prevents oxygen that the fish can no longer breathe. Oil spills also suffocate corals, mangroves and sea grass beds. The slick definitely worsened the marine life in the waters of Guimaras considering that it’s already bad there with the earlier destruction on corals in the area.

VDS: What can be done at this point?

AA: Instead of officials talking of investigations right away after the spill, what should be done is to immediately contain the oil – by pumping the out with booms and dispersing it on land. It will help if the dispersal is done using bagasse, hay and rice stalks, for example, instead of directly to the land as these products will absorb the substance spilled.

VDS: What will be its long term effects?

AA: While fishermen may be affected badly in their livelihood, the bigger long-term effect is on marine life as organisms will accumulate hydro-carbon pollutants which are hazardous to human health. The environment will also be polluted down to the bottom of the sea. It may take decades to rehabilitate marine life in affected areas. I know that in some countries, damages caused by oil spill have long-term effects – as long as 30 years although in tropical countries, like ours, it can be shorter than that. We really can’t tell how many years it will take for marine life to completely recover from this environmental tragedy.

(For more of Dr. Alcala’s insights, please click Visayan Daily Star . The interview was published in the paper’s Aug. 20 issue.)

From a former independent director of Petron

JOSE LUIS “NONOY” YULO writes…

HI Stella! I am in San Francisco now for a family affair and will be back in Manila on Sept 10 or 12.

From 2001 until end February 2006,I was in the board as Independent Director of Petron and Chairman of its Audit Committee and Compensation Committee… During my stay, we were able to turn Petron around from lossess and mediocre income, to its highest ever in net income in 2005 of over P5 billion. I was reasonably strict in my audit function and introduced some expense control measures and found the Petron board then to be fully professional and one of the best that I have ever served in.

By Feb this year however, pressures were adrift to offer my position to former budget secretary Emilia Boncodin, so I tendered my resignation.

During the time of my service, we made a strategic policy decision (which I pushed for) to go full blast into the refinning business in the Philippines, rather than close it down as Caltex had done. Closing down Petron’s refinery was indeed a major option being discussed at that time. Instead, Petron took the company further into creating two profit center businesses-refinery and retail. In the end, even Shell or Caltex may purchase their requirements from Petron instead of importing them.

Therefore, Petron has been investing heavily in expanding, upgrading and adding new refining capacity to produce the cleanest diesel fuel, as well as higher end products for export. I believe the good effects of this strategic decision will be felt more and more in the coming years when the whole upgrading process is complete by end 2007 thereabouts.

Now, with regards the oil spill, Petron has indeed no direct legal responsibility since transporting the oil is done by independent haulers. Direct responsibility lies therefore with the hauler and their insurance companies, and perhaps gov’t regulators,if they were remiss in their duties.

Petron however, as a company owned 40% by the government and being in a strategic business akin to a pseudo-monopoly, is indeed morally responsible in some way to help alleviate the situation. Petron and Saudi Aramco can help with its access to expertise in oil spills clean up, through its connections worlwide, plus some monetary help, but not to the extent of jeopardizing Petron’s viability.

The above are my independent thoughts which I would have put forward as Independent Director.

With best regards,

Nonoy Yulo