SC gives oil pipeline conditional clearance after DOE-supervised tests

It was closed due to a gas leak.

First Philippine Industrial Corp (FPIC), a unit of First Philippine Holdings Corp., has been given by the Supreme Court a conditional clearance to reopen the 117km white oil pipeline (WOPL) that runs from Batangas to the Pandacan oil depot.

According to a research note from Maybank ATR Kim Eng, in 2010, the WOPL was closed down because of a gas leak which affected the 22-storey West Tower Makati condominium residents and an entire barangay in Makati.

The court directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to oversee the preparatory test run of the WOPL and conduct onsite inspection of the pipeline right-of-way, the area around the pipeline and the equipment installed above ground and under ground.

The court said that only after the FPIC has undertaken those activities will the DOE determine if the activities and the result of the test run warrant the reopening of the WOPL.