One of the booster pumps used to drain oil from the sunken tanker MTKR Terranova malfunctioned during the ongoing siphoning operation at the ground zero in Limay, Bataan, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) disclosed on Saturday, Aug. 24.
As a result, this further hampered the siphoning of the remainder of 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil (IFO) onboard MTKR Terranova.
“We talked to the contracted salvor [Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc.] yesterday [Aug. 22] and they reported that one of their booster pumps encountered a derangement. We are requesting for the specific report on what transpired underwater,” Lt. Cdr. Michael John Encina, commander of Coast Guard Station Bataan, said.
The damaged booster pump is one of the high-tech pumps installed to the eight cargo oil tanks (COTs) onboard MTKR Terranova. Through the booster pumps, the divers are injecting seawater into the COTs to let the thick oil float and siphon it to another container.
The incident caused the rate of oil extraction to slow down to 2,966 liters per hour on Aug. 23, compared to 7,200 liters per hour on Aug. 22.
Similarly, Harbor Star and the PCG extracted only 17,103 liters of oil from MTKR Terranova on Aug. 23 (compared to 81,136 liters on Aug. 22), which brought the total oil collected to 178,715 liters since the initial siphoning began on Aug. 19.
“We expect them [Harbor Star] to accomplish the two-week timeline for the siphoning operation but there are so many variables that might happen during the course of siphoning,” Encina said.
“What is important is that there will be no oil spill or strong leakage from the tanker’s pipes,” he added.
Encina said the faulty booster pump was repaired around 5 p.m. on Aug. 23.
During the siphoning operation on Friday, PCG vessel BRP Sindangan (MRRV-4407) observed rainbow and transparent oil sheen northeast off the ground zero.
Tugboats Mtug Minkar and MTug Zaniah were deployed to install oil spill booms and skimmer to contain the sighted oil sheen.