TROPICAL Storm Enteng on Monday forced the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to suspend the siphoning of oil from the sunken MT Terranova in Limay, Bataan.

The contracted salvor, Harbor Star Shipping Services Inc., secured all siphoning lines and containment equipment, closed all hot taps and postponed the transfer of recovered oil waste, the PCG said.

So far, over 1.2 million liters of oil have been collected from the tanker.

Harbor Star deployed additional pumps and said that the rate of oil flow last Sunday was 22,315 liters per hour.

The PCG said the Oil Spill Response Team, which is monitoring the transfer of the siphoned oil at the dockyard in Orion, Bataan, reported no leaks during the operation.

Close to 700 liters of oil were loaded onto trucks at Orion for transport to a waste management facility in Marilao, Bulacan, for disposal.

The PCG said the BRP Malamawi used a portable fire pump to agitate the oil sheen in the area where the Terranova sank.

The FES Challenger, the salvor recovering oil from another tanker, the Jason Bradley, also halted its operation because of the storm.

A Coast Guard response team also secured the moorings of the MV Mirola 1, which had run aground and was towed to the Diving Industry Shipyard in Mariveles, Bataan.