Singapore is stepping up efforts to contain an oil slick that reached its shores a day after a tanker, owned by a unit of MISC Bhd., collided with a bulk carrier near the world’s busiest container port.
“Patches” of oil have affected part of the coastline between Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal and Changi Naval Base and between a sailing club and a golf resort, the Maritime and Port Authority said today. The MT Bunga Kelana 3, owned by AET Tanker Holdings Sdn., collided with the bulk carrier MV Waily 13 kilometers (8 miles) southeast of Changi East yesterday.
The spill, equivalent to 18,325 barrels or enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, amounts to three days of leakage from BP Plc’s damaged well in the Gulf of Mexico. AET is a unit of MISC, the world’s biggest operator of liquefied natural gas carriers. MISC shares fell the most in three months.
“The incident may have marginal financial impact on the group as it is obviously fully covered by insurance,” Ng Sem Guan, a stock analyst at broker OSK Securities Sdn. in Kuala Lumpur, said in a note.
MISC dropped 3.4 percent to 8.13 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur, more than the 0.1 percent decline in the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index. The stock fell for a sixth day, the longest losing streak in five years.
“The incident caused significant damage to the vessel’s hull,” according to AET.
As of 11:30 a.m. Singapore time today, 15 vessels and more than 120 personnel have been deployed and 3.3 kilometers of containment booms used, the Maritime and Port Authority said.
Indonesia, Malaysia
“Joint clean-up efforts by the National Environment Agency and contractors engaged by AET are ongoing,” the authority said on its website. “MPA continues to work with the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities.”
Treasure Marine Ltd. is the beneficial owner of the Waily, Bloomberg data showed. The 25,449-deadweight-ton vessel, flying a St. Vincent & The Grenadines flag, was built in 1983. It sailed from the east Indian port of Paradip about two weeks ago.
“I should think that they would know very well whether more oil is going to leak or not,” said John Vautrain, senior vice-president at U.S. energy consultants Purvin & Gertz Inc. in Singapore. “This is not like BP’s problem in the Gulf of Mexico. This is not a difficult spill situation.”
BP estimated its Gulf of Mexico oil well has been leaking 5,000 barrels a day since an April 20 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11. Independent scientists have told the U.S. Congress crude was spewing at more than 10 times that rate.
Singapore’s Worst Spill
Singapore’s worst oil spill was in October 1997 when the Cyprus-flagged Evoikos collided with the Thai-registered Orapin Global, a Very Large Crude Carrier. More than 25,000 tons of oil were spilled.
AET is undertaking an “internal transfer” of Bintulu grade crude oil from the vessel, the company said today in an e- mailed statement. The tanker, struck on its port side as it sailed east to west, will be moved after the underwater damage is assessed.
The Malaysia-flagged Bunga Kelana 3, classed as an Aframax tanker, was built in 1998 with 12 cargo tanks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has a double hull, a design meant to prevent oil leaks or flooding beyond the outer compartment.
“Double hull does not guarantee there will never be a spill,” said Vautrain at Purvin & Gertz. “Double hull means it takes a bigger collision to create a spill. I shouldn’t think it’ll take too long to clean this up.”
The vessel had a loaded draft of 11.4 meters (37.4 feet) yesterday, compared with its maximum of 14.9 meters, based on transmissions captured by AISLive on Bloomberg. This indicates it was almost fully laden when it departed Bintulu in Malaysia’s Sarawak state on May 23.
“AET is also cooperating fully with Malaysian authorities in readiness of possible clean-up operations along the southeastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia,” the company said.
