Pandacan oil depot
Coordinates: 14°35′38″N 121°00′24″E / 14.5940°N 121.0068°E
The Pandacan Oil Depot is a 33-hectare compound in Pandacan, Manila, Philippines. It houses the storage facilities and distribution terminals of three major players in the country's petroleum industry, namely Caltex (a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation), Petron, and Shell. The oil depot takes its roots from separate establishments by these oil companies.
The continued operation of the oil depot in a densely populated major city has been a subject of various concerns, including its environmental and health impact to the residents of Manila.
Shell established facilities in 1914. Caltex began using the Pandacan warehouse depot in 1917, when it started marketing its products in the Philippines. Eleven years later, its Pandacan warehouse depot was converted into a key distribution terminal to bring products to nearby provinces. Petron followed suit in 1922.
The continued operation of the oil depot in a densely populated major city has been a subject of various concerns, including its environmental and health impact to the residents of the adjacent community surrounding the compound, as well as to the larger Manila population. International standards allow oil depots to operate within a 20-kilometer radius buffer zone, away from residential and commercial establishments which would be directly affected by the facility’s everyday operations and impending accidents in the future.
In 1997, two Shell oil tankers exploded inside the oil depot complex. In 1999, a pipeline leak was the source of fires in Muntinlupa City, killing one. In January 2008, a tanker burst into flames at the foot of the Nagtahan fly-over. In 2005, the UP College of Medicine at the University of the Philippines Manila conducted the cross-sectional study which found that the number of cases of neurophysical disorders in the area surrounding the area have been progressively increasing. In the same year, a health survey proved that the air surrounding the oil depot contains high levels of benzene, a chemical compound known to increase risks of cancer.
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