OIL RECOVERY. The Harbor Star, the contracted salvor for MT Terranova, deploys the Current Buster 4 oil recovery system to augment oil clean-up and containment surrounding the sunken oil tanker on Wednesday (Aug. 21, 2024). About 42,000 liters of oil were siphoned from Terranova through an additional booster pump, increasing oil siphoning efficiency. (Photo courtesy of PCG)
MANILA – Oil recovery from the sunken MT Terranova in Bataan waters increased to 42,000 liters on Wednesday through an additional pump and an oil recovery system.
In a situation update Thursday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said the contracted salvor, Harbor Star, installed another booster pump to improve siphoning efficiency from Terranova’s eight tankers in the waters of Limay.
Harbor Star began using a high-speed oil spill recovery system called Current Buster 4 to collect oil waste and augment oil containment and recovery.
It aims to siphon 200,000 liters of oil-seawater mixture daily from the sunken motor tanker, targeting to complete in 13 days the siphoning of 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil cargo.
The PCG’s BRP Sindangan monitors ongoing activities at the oil spill site through drone aerial surveillance.
Meanwhile, MV Mirola 1 that grounded in Bataan has been floated completely, PCG Bataan Station commander, Lt. Commander Michael John Encina, said in an interview on Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon aired over PTV.
Its contractor salvor, Morning Star, continued to patch and repair the vessel’s hull and extract seawater from the vessel.
PCG patrol along the shorelines of Sitio Bagong Sibol and Sitio Quiapo in Mariveles yielded no presence of oil sheen.
On the other hand, the contracted salvor for MTKR Jason Bradley – the FES Challenger – continued to pump seawater from the vessel and prepared the ship’s steering room for refloating.
PCG personnel have also conducted drone aerial surveillance and coastline patrols to monitor the situation of the second sunken tanker.
“No oil sheen was observed during the survey,” it said.
On July 27, Jason Bradley sank to a depth of nine meters, resting on a muddy sea floor about 600 yards away from the nearest shoreline in Mariveles, Bataan. (PNA)
