NEA advises the public not to swim at 4 beaches after Shell oil leak at Pulau Bukom

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) issued an advisory to the public on Monday (Oct 21) in the wake of the oil leak incident that occurred over the weekend.

In the early morning hours on Oct 20, one of the land-based pipelines of Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Singapore began leaking oil at Pulau Bukom. The agency has been closely monitoring this incident.

The leak affected the waters between Bukom Island and Bukom Kecil.

NEA advised the public against swimming and other primary contact water activities at East Coast Park, Kusu, St John’s and Lazarus Islands beaches.

It added that the agency has sent out oil-absorbent booms at the canals and key areas at East Coast Park and West Coast Park.

More information regarding the short-term water quality of beaches may be found here.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and update if there are further developments,” NEA added.

A spokesman for the Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) was quoted in The Straits Times as saying that the public may still enjoy water activities at Tanjong Beach, Palawan Beach, and Siloso Beach on Sentosa Island.

Meanwhile, Shell also issued a statement on Oct 21, saying that the oil leak, which has since been stopped, made no impact on its operations and supply at Pulau Bukom.

The company said, “We estimate approximately 30 to 40 metric tonnes of slop, which is a mixture of oil and water, was leaked into the sea.”

The company added that Shell is working with the relevant agencies to carry out efforts to clean up the spill. It has deployed containment booms, anti-pollution crafts, and sprayed dispersant to contain and break up the oil.

“Our priority is to ensure the safety of people and to limit environmental impact as we work on resolving this as quickly as possible.

We appreciate the support and cooperation from authorities and our communities as we work diligently to minimize the impact.”

In August, Shell Singapore closed down one crude distillation unit (CDU) and other Pulau Bukom facilities to carry out an overhaul. This was scheduled to be completed by the first half of this month.

Earlier this year, Chandra Asri, an Indonesia petrochemicals company, and Glencore, a trading house, purchased refinery and petrochemical plants in Singapore from Shell, a transaction expected to be completed by the end of the year, according to a Reuters report. /TISG

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