Lack of fuel tanks contribute to power woes

The recent power stages on Saipan could have been avoided despite a delay in the arrival of fuel shipment last week if the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. had adequate fuel storage tanks.

To date, the CUC uses only two tanks, which can accommodate 12,000 barrels of diesel each. CUC’s bigger tanks have been down due to environmental and health concerns.

CUC officials said in Thursday’s board meeting that CUC Tank 103 is still under repair. The tank, which was shut down due to leaks, has been repaired but it needs to be tested first, the utility firm said.

CUC compliance officer Larry Guerrero said it takes 14 days to discharge fuel refuse out of the tank.

The tank is reportedly filled with saltwater which has to be flushed out to the ocean. Each discharge, he said, requires the permission of the Environmental Protection Agency. Guerrero said it is safe to say that the tank would be operational by end of the month.

The other, Tank 104, which had been contracted out for cleanup over a year ago, remains unclean, CUC said. The tank, which has a capacity of about 20,000 barrels of fuel, was used as storage for used oil.

When asked by the board, CUC executive director Lorraine A. Babauta admitted that a contractor was hired earlier to do the cleanup of the tank. But after the cleanup, the CUC entered into an agreement with a company to use it again as storage tank for used oil.

Right now, the CUC management said it needs to hire another cleanup company to fix the mess. CUC reportedly spent some $50,000 to do the previous tank cleanup. Babauta said the company that used the tank is willing to share with the cleanup cost this time.

“The first cleanup was useless. I wonder why the CUC agreed to use it again for used oil. Now it’s hiring another company to the another cleanup,” said board member Joseph Torres.

Meanwhile, Torres said that pointing the blame on the delayed shipment of fuel as the cause of power failure last week was incorrect.

“Based on these information before us, it shows that Mobil is not the issue here; we just didn’t have the facility for fuel reserve,” he said.

The CUC, in a statement Tuesday, said that recent outages were caused by the late delivery of fuel by Mobil Marianas. It cited that the fuel shipment was originally set to arrive Friday but it came only Tuesday.

The delay was reportedly due to storm and high seas in Singapore and the Philippine Sea.

Mobil shipment for CUC usually arrives every 28 days from Singapore.

Prior to this, the CUC cited its old and broken power plant engines as the cause of power outages.

CUC has described the power situation on Saipan as “very critical,” citing lack of power reserve. As of last week, it said that three engines in its main power plant in Lower Base were down. Other engines are working but these are also overdue for overhaul.

During the meeting, Babauta said that, had she been informed of the late arrival of the fuel shipment, she could have done last minute solutions such as asking another supplier, Shell, to provide CUC with fuel.

In the same board meeting, CUC deputy executive director Bernard Villagomez said that CUC knew about the problem since Monday.

Upon learning of the fuel shortage, he said he had called up several offices, including Shell, but he said that even Shell did not have enough capacity.

On Tuesday, CUC dealt with the same problem, even though the Mobil shipment had arrived at the Saipan dock.

“We were in panic up to 2pm. I started calling up the stations and asked both Mobil and Shell to give us whatever they have,” he said, adding that Mobil had to source fuel from its dead stock.

He said that 15 gallons of fuel had to be delivered to power plant IV in Puerto Rico to prevent the engines from going down.