Clean-up operations being conducted on Dec 27 after refined oil products had leaked into the waters off Bukom Island. - PHOTO: SHELL/MARITIME AND PORT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE/FACEBOOK
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): Clean-up efforts in the wake of an oil leak in the waters off Bukom Island have been completed, the authorities said.
In a joint statement, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the National Environment Agency (NEA) and National Parks Board said efforts by British petrochemical giant Shell to locate the source of the leak in the oil processing unit are ongoing.
The statement said: “Additional containment and absorbent booms have been laid in the channel and at the mouth of the channel as precautionary measures... Absorbent booms at Sisters’ Islands Marine Park and the beaches on Sentosa have been laid as a precautionary measure.
“There have been no sightings of oil sheens or oil patches in the waters off Sentosa, and its beaches remain open for water activities.”
It added that the oil was no longer observed entering the cooling water discharge channel.
A few tonnes of refined oil products produced at an oil processing unit at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park leaked on Dec 26, prompting Shell to shut the unit down temporarily.
On the same day, it found oil sheens off Bukom Island at about 9.30am. The incident was then reported to the MPA at 11.58am and to the NEA at 1.15pm.
An MPA craft arrived at the scene at 12.15pm to assess the situation and provide support.
The scale of the oil leak was determined to be minor on Dec 26, “with no risk” to public safety or environmentally sensitive areas, owing to the measures that Shell had implemented, the statement said.
The measures included laying absorbent and containment booms, spraying dispersants in the channel where the cooling water is being discharged and activating an inbuilt oil skimmer system.
MPA sent three patrol craft on Dec 27, as Shell had asked for help in speeding up the clean-up efforts.
NEA and MPA are jointly conducting a probe into the incident, and will take action if any wrongdoing or lapse is found, the statement said.
Earlier in 2024, Shell was involved in an oil leak when about 30 to 40 tonnes of oil and water leaked from a land-based pipeline on Oct 20 into the waters straddling Bukom Island and Bukom Kechil.
Shell alerted the authorities to the oil leak later that day at about 1pm – more than seven hours after the leak was found at 5.30am. Clean-up operations were completed on Oct 29, and the reasons for the delay in reporting the leak are still under probe.
About a week after that incident, five tonnes of oil flowed into the sea on Oct 28 during a bunkering operation between a Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier and a bunker tanker off Changi.
In June, Singapore experienced its worst oil spill in a decade after a dredging boat hit a stationary cargo tanker in Pasir Panjang Terminal, resulting in more than 400 tonnes of oil leaking into nearby waters.
Oil slicks spread to the waters near Labrador Nature Reserve, Sentosa, East Coast Park, the Southern Islands and Changi, requiring massive clean-up efforts that lasted about three months.
More than 800 cleaning personnel and 2,300 volunteers took to the beaches before the last dredges of the oil spill were cleared in September – marked by the reopening of Tanjong Beach in Sentosa. - The Straits Times/ANN
