Petron starts 5-year pullout from Pandacan

Petron Corp., the Philippines largest oil refiner and retailer, will start relocating operations out of its Pandacan facility, hoping to complete the move in five years’ time. Petron CEO Ramon S. Ang said this has been in line with the company’s agreement with the city government of Manila. Under the agreement, Petron would scale down oil operations over time and eventually phase out all activities in Pandacan. Pandacan, a busy district in Manila, also plays host to two other oil companies: Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex). Shell earlier declared it would not move out of the Pandacan depot anytime soon. (September 19, 2010)