Oil leak at Shell’s Pulau Bukom refinery stopped, clean-up of oil sheens completed
Shell is trying to locate the source of the leak at its oil processing unit.
A view on Dec 28, 2024, of containment booms deployed in the channel of Pulau Bukom after an oil leak at a Shell oil processing unit. (Photo: MPA, NEA, NParks and SDC)
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SINGAPORE: The oil leak at Shell's refinery at Pulau Bukom has stopped and clean-up of oil sheens spotted off the island has been completed, government agencies said in a joint statement on Saturday (Dec 28).
Shell previously said that some of its refined oil products were released into the water due to a suspected leak at an oil processing unit on Pulau Bukom.
Oil sheens were spotted alongside a wharf on Thursday at the Shell Energy and Chemical Parks, prompting authorities to put containment measures in place.
It was estimated that a few tonnes of refined oil products were leaked, together with the cooling water discharge.
No more oil was observed going into the cooling water discharge channel after Shell shut down its oil processing unit on Friday, the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the National Environment Agency (NEA), the National Parks Board (NParks) and Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) said on Saturday.
"Efforts by Shell to locate the source of the leak in the oil processing unit are ongoing," they added.
CONTAINMENT MEASURES
Giving a timeline of events, the government agencies said on Saturday that the oil sheens were discovered by Shell at around 9.30am on Thursday, and were reported to MPA and NEA at 11.58am and 1.15pm respectively.
An MPA craft reached the site of the incident at 12.15pm to assess the situation and to provide support.
"Initial assessments on Dec 26 (Thursday) 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," the agencies said.
Shell laid containment and absorbent booms and sprayed dispersants in the channel where the cooling water is discharged.
MPA deployed three patrol craft on Friday when Shell requested support to speed up the cleaning of the oil sheens off Pulau Bukom.
There have been no sightings of oil sheens or oil patches in the waters off Sentosa, and its beaches remain open for water activities, said the agencies.
However, as a precaution, oil-absorbent booms have been laid at Sisters' Islands Marine Park and at the beaches on Sentosa.
"NEA is investigating the incident with MPA, and actions will be taken if any wrongdoing or lapse is discovered," said the agencies.
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," it said.
Shell's facility on Pulau Bukom is its only energy and chemicals park in Asia.
The affected oil processing unit is used to produce refined oil products such as diesel. Water drawn from the sea is used as part of the process to cool the refined oil products in the unit.
"The leak in Shell’s oil processing unit is a different system from Shell's earlier slop pipeline leak on Oct 20," said the agencies, referring to the incident where about 30 to 40 metric tonnes of "slop" - a mixture of oil and water - leaked from a Shell land-based pipeline into the sea between Bukom Island and Bukom Kecil.
Shell was being investigated for allegedly taking more than seven hours to notify the authorities about the leak on Oct 20. NEA had also directed Shell to carry out a comprehensive pipeline integrity check across their Bukom plant.
