Following the April 8 tremors in Batangas, House deputy minority leader and Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. has urged the Department of Energy to immediately check the safety of all oil and gas installations in the southern Luzon province.
“From a strictly public safety perspective, our oil and gas installations in Batangas may be more sensitive to tremors compared to the power plants in the province,” Campos said.
The lawmaker urged the DoE to require oil and gas installations in Batangas to promptly submit status reports on the integrity of their facilities, and on the post-quake safety checks that they have performed.
“We simply want the DoE to categorically assure the public that these installations remain absolutely safe and sound, despite the seismic activity,” Campos said.
Campos is author of a bill that seeks to empower all of the nation’s fire officers as “fully trained and certified first responders” to all kinds of disasters, including earthquakes, just like in highly developed countries.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. operates a newly upgraded 110,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Batangas City.
Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. also runs a terminal in the Municipality of Calaca.
Both Shell and Phoenix are publicly listed entities whose shares are freely traded on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The marine-fed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) depot of South Pacific Inc., an independent locator at the Phoenix Petroterminals and Industrial Park in Calaca, was hit by a massive fire in February 2016 that forced the evacuation of nearby residents.
Two earthquakes measuring 6.0 and 5.6 occurred near the Municipality of Mabini in Batangas on April 8, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The multiple tremors in Batangas and nearby parts of Luzon form part of a “swarm” that could last for days or even weeks, Science Undersecretary and Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said on ANC’s Dateline Philippines.
“The series of quakes in Batangas are all related as one fault system or one fault moving incrementally to generate succeeding or successive small seismic events,” Solidum said, adding that there may be more tremors in the days ahead.
