THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said the “Big Three oil companies” decision to open third-party inspection of its Pandacan oil terminal is a welcome development.

Jesus Varela, PCCI chairman for trade and industry, said he thinks there will be no problem with that [third-party assessor] inspection. “It’s actually good to let an expert do that, and it will even allay fears of the people,” the PCCI official said.

The PCCI is open to attend and participate in the inspection, Varela said. He added all industry stakeholders should participate to ensure transparency.

Varela also admitted that he thinks the oil terminals in Pandacan would eventually and gradually be downscaled within 10 years.

Their business is dependent on economics, he explained.  Economics and market forces will eventually dictate whether the Pandacan oil depot would stay,” Varela said.

The Big Three oil companies—Chevron Philippines, Inc., Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp—earlier said the issue whether the oil depot would remain in Pandacan for the long term remains conditional on several factors.

“The future of Pandacan will be determined by economic and market development,” Edgar Chua, Shell Group of Companies country chairman, said.

He added that Shell sees the growth of the areas north and south of Manila to naturally result in changes in terms of the supply patterns.

So, over time, according to Chua, they see that the footprint of Pandacan will shrink since the north and south areas of Manila will grow.

Chua said the supply to these areas will be coming from different depots and not just Pandacan.

Eric Recto, Petron president, said what will make economic sense will eventually drive what happens to Pandacan. “Unless it will be proven to be a health and safety hazard, we will rather let those economic imperatives be the driver of the future of Pandacan,” he added.

Recto said the economic imperatives are not just for the oil companies, but for everyone that is affected by oil products.

“And if the report will eventually show that the only solution for us to move out—then so be it. But right now, the market conditions will determine what the ultimate state of Pandacan is,” he added.

Chua and Recto said the future of Pandacan is very much linked to developments of the market and economic developments. “And even if the Pandacan depot is found to be safe and not polluting, we see over time Pandacan oil depot will actually reduce in size simply because of the economic and market developments,” Chua said.

Chua said the footprint and the amount of inventory in Pandacan have already been reduced in the past year.