The Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) is looking to redevelop the 11.89-hectare Pandacan oil depot in Manila.
“We have a property in Pandacan. Petron’s oil depot, that’s ours. We are also studying how to utilize it,” PNOC president Reuben Lista said.
The property was previously leased to Petron Corp. for a 25 year-period covering September 1, 1993 to August 31, 2018.
The state-run firm wants to negotiate with the Manila city government on how to utilize the property. It has also excluded the oil depot in the renewal of Petron’s lease agreement for bulk plants.
“Petron wanted to negotiate [its lease] but it was thumbed down by the Supreme Court. So we’ll have to negotiate probably with the city government,” Lista said.
The land is part of the 33-hectare depot where the storage facilities and distribution terminals of major oil companies like Chevron Philippines Inc. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp.
In 2015, the Supreme Court ordered that firms should remove the oil depot in Pandacan. Additionally, a city ordinance in Manila reclassified the place from heavy industrial to high intensity commercial/mixed use zone.
PNOC previously said it will develop its major land assets into energy sectors in order to generate cash flow.
*Photo from Shutterstock
