Shell has confirmed that the oil leak at Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore on Bukom has stopped and clean-up of the oil sheens, which were spotted on December 26, has been completed.
No more oil leak observed going into the cooling water discharge channel after Shell shut down its oil processing unit on Friday, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said in a media statement.
Additional containment and absorbent booms have been laid in the channel and at the mouth of the channel as precautionary measures.
“Efforts by Shell to locate the source of the leak in the oil processing unit are ongoing,” the statement reads.
Shell previously said that oil sheens were spotted alongside a wharf on December 26 at Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore on Bukom.
“This is suspected to be from one of the oil processing units, resulting in some of the refined oil products to be released into the water,” it said.
MPA also confirmed that the clean-up of the light oil sheens off Pulau Bukom has been completed. 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,” the authority added.
Giving a timeline of events, the authority in a joint statement with the National Environment Agency (NEA), the National Parks Board (NParks) and Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) said on Saturday that the oil sheens, discovered by Shell on December 26 at approximately 9:30am, was reported to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) at 11:58 am and 1:15 pm, respectively.
An MPA craft reached the incident site at 12:15 pm to assess the situation and to provide support.
“Initial assessments on 26 December determined the scale of oil sheens to be minor, with no risk to public safety or environmentally sensitive areas, given the containment measures Shell had implemented,” MPA, NEA, NParks and SDC noted in the joint statement.
MPA deployed three patrol craft on Friday when Shell requested support to hasten the clean-up of the light oil sheens off Pulau Bukom.
In the joint statement it was reported that NEA is investigating the incident with MPA. Furthermore, they said that “the leak in Shell’s oil processing unit is a different system from Shell’s earlier slop pipeline leak on 20 October 2024.”
In a separate statement, Shell said on Saturday that it would continue to work closely with the authorities to monitor the situation.
“We continue to cooperate with the authorities on the investigations, and learn from this incident to improve our safety performance,” said in its release.
