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21 days after its arrival, the oil recovery ship Allied Shield contracted by Sonsub
completed its mission to ensure that no oil was left on Solar 1. A minimal volume of oil amounting to
around 9,000 liters was recovered from Solar 1 during the operation. No oil was released into the environment.
This brings the last phase of the clean-up to a close.
The oil recovery team drilled two
holes in each compartment to determine whether there was any oil and retrieve it once it was found. One hole allowed
water to enter and displace the heavier oil while the other hole with a fail-safe valve was used to extract any
remaining oil. A shuttle cylinder was used to catch the oil. To ensure that no oil was left, the oil recovery team
also opened the hatches of each compartment to check.
“We had a very successful operation
since we were able to complete the oil retrieval without any problem. More importantly, we can be assured that
there is no more oil left on Solar 1,” Sonsub’s Director for Special Operations Mark Phibbs said.
The Allied Shield arrived at the Bacolod
at 6 a.m. April 1 and set sail for Singapore 12 hours later. The recovered oil, which is contained in an ISO tank,
has been transferred from the ship and is being stored at Petron’s Bacolod depot before final disposition.
“The fact that a minimal amount of oil has been
found on Solar 1 is not unexpected. Oil recovery experts have repeatedly said it is possible that Solar 1 is already empty.
The operation confirms this,” Petron Health, Safety and Environment Manager Caloy Tan said.
Allied Shield arrived in Bacolod City last March 10,
to perform oil recovery operations on the tanker Solar 1, which had sunk 9 miles southwest of Guimaras Island last August 11, 2006.
The tanker, which was carrying 2,000 tons of fuel oil, sunk to a depth of 640 meters.
Following clean-up operations on the affected
shorelines, the Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club, the insurer of Solar 1, contracted Sonsub, an Italian firm specializing
in deepwater operations, to retrieve any remaining oil on the sunken vessel.
“The retrieval operation is an essential
undertaking since it will give peace of mind to the people of the Visayas and more importantly, it will ensure that no
further environmental damage can be caused by Solar 1,” Tan added.
Petron, the owner of the oil on board Solar 1,
has been actively involved in the cleanup and rehabilitation of affected areas in Guimaras. Employee volunteers teamed
up with local residents to clean about 140-km of shoreline, and collected 6,000 metric tons of oily debris. The company
also conducted numerous relief and medical missions in affected baranggays.
As part of its commitment to the recovery of
Guimaras, Petron recently broke ground on a three-classroom Petron School at Bgy. Tando, Nueva Valencia, and a library hub
in Jordan. The two educational structures will provide venues for learning for the children of Guimaras.
The company is likewise in discussions
with Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) in order to establish a mari-culture livelihood model farm
that will directly benefit fisherfolks.
The International Oil Pollution Compensation
Fund (IOPC) has cited the efforts of the company in its response to the clean-up and rehabilitation of Guimaras.
“In only 2 of the 150 oil spill incidents
has the cargo owner actually taken charge of the clean-up process. Petron took the social and moral responsibility for
this incident,” IOPC Deputy Director Joe Nichols said. “Under the present conventions, they can actually just walk away
since they have no legal liabilities.”
 Video stream of oil flowing from Solar 1 
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