SINGAPORE, Oct 30 — Singapore authorities said today there have been no further oil sightings at sea or ashore following two separate oil spill incidents earlier this month.
The Straits Times reported nine agencies as confirming via a joint statement that clean-up operations from the October 20 spill involving Shell had been completed.
This incident occurred in the channel between Pulau Bukom and Bukom Kechil, necessitating the cleaning of oil-stained rock bunds and infrastructure.
The statement also indicated that there were no sightings linked to a separate overflow incident during bunkering operations on October 28 off Changi.
The agencies involved include the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA), Building and Construction Authority, JTC Corporation, National Environment Agency (NEA), National Parks Board, PUB, Sentosa Development Corporation, Singapore Food Agency, and the Singapore Land Authority.
As a result of the lack of sightings, the MPA announced that “all seaward oil response assets that were deployed by the MPA for both incidents will stand down” today.
Precautionary containment and absorbent booms installed since October 20 will also be progressively removed, it added.
Investigations by the NEA and MPA into the leaked “slop,” a mixture of oil and water, from Shell’s facility are ongoing.
The October 28 incident involved a bunkering operation between a Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier, the Ines Corrado, and a licensed bunker tanker.
It was reported that approximately five tonnes of oil overflowed during this operation.
The earlier incident on October 20 saw an estimated 30 to 40 tonnes of slop leak from a land-based pipeline belonging to Shell.
Following the leak, the NEA advised the public on October 21 to avoid swimming and other primary contact activities near beaches at East Coast Park, Kusu Island, St John’s Island, and Lazarus Island.
This advisory was lifted on October 25.
